m 


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II 


LIHRARY 


University  of  California. 


Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

R ea 7 -.-v./  October,  i8q4> 
\ , , .  SlTO  *+-%  i      Class  No. 


/ 


GO   UP    HIGHER 


RELIGION    IN    COMMON    LIFE 


BY 


JAMES  FREEMAN  CLARKE 

AUTHOR   OF  "  THB   HOUR  WHICH   COMETH,"   "  TEN   GREAT   RELIGIONS,"  "  STEPS   OF 
BELIEF,"    "ORTHODOXY,    ITS   TRUTHS  AND  ERRORS,"    ETC 


Z^  OF  XH1 

uhivbrsitt; 


BOSTON 
LEE    &    SHEPARD,    PUBLISHERS 

NEW  YORK  : 

CHARLES    T.    DILLINGHAM 

1877. 


£63 


Copyright,  1877, 

BY 

LEE  &  SHEPARD. 


OTE. 


This  volume  contains  a  number  of  sermons  which 
have  been  preached  during  the  last  three  years  to  the 
Church  of  the  Disciples  in  Boston.  In  making  the 
selection,  I  have  taken  those  which  I  thought  would 
be  most  interesting  and  useful  to  the  general  public. 
I  have  avoided  those  dealing  with  speculative  and  con- 
troversional  questions.  These  discourses  concern  the 
realities  of  the  spiritual  life,  rather  than  theories  afcout 
it.  They  avoid  the  obscure  regions  of  thought,  and 
those  profounder  discussions,  of  which  we  may  say, 
in  the  words  of  the  apostle :  "  He  that  speaketh  in  an 
unknown  tongue,  speaketh  not  to  men,  but  to  God; 
for  no  man  undcrstandeth  him,  howbeit  in  the  spirit 
he  speaketh  mysteries.  But  he  that  prophesieth, 
speaketh  unto  men  to  edification,  and  exhortation,  and 
comfort." 

J.  F.  C. 


CONTENTS. 


Sermon. 
I. 


Is- 


II. 
III. 

IV. 

"-    V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XL 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 


XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 


Page. 
Go  Up  Higher i 

"  Set  Thy  House  in  Order."    .       .        .        .        12 

The  Two  Handles 21 

The  Nearest  Duty 34 

How  to  Change  Time  into  Life.         .        .        .    45 

Bare  Grain. re 

In  His  Name 63 

If  any  Man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  New  Creature.    73 
Spiritual   Mnemonics;  Or  Rules  for  Improv- 
ing the  Memory 84 

Mercy  and  Truth  Meeting  Together.  .  .  96 
No  Temptations  but  what  are  Natural.  .  106 
The  Spirit  of  Fear  and  the  Spirit  of  Power.  117 

"Uncertain  Sounds." 129 

Ethnic  and   Christian   Views  of  Divine  In- 
fluence         .        .        .  !4i 

Transition  Periods.  152 

The  Word  of  God  not  Bound.  .  •  .  .162 
Many  Mansions  in  God's  House.  .  .  .173 
Not  Unclothed,  but  Clothed  Upon.  .  .  187 
All  Things  for  Good 198 


VI  CONTENTS. 

Sermon.  Page. 

XX.    Making  all  Things  New 209 

XXI.  Not  to  Destroy,  but  Fulfil.    ....      220 

XXII.  Voluntary    and    Automatic    Morality;    Or, 

How  Progress  is  Possible 231 

XXIII.  Symmetrical  Development 241 

XXIV.  The  Personal  Equation  in  Religion.         .       .  253 
XXV.  Latent  Goodness  and  Latent  Evil.        .       .      265 

XXVI.    Possessed  with  a  Devil 279 

XXVII.    Get  Thee  Behind  Me,  Satan 295 

XXVIII.    Birthright  Goodness  and  Goodness  which  we 

Pay  For 305 

**-         XXIX.    The  Difference  Between   "Come"  and  "Go" 

in  Religion 316 

XXX.    The  Three  Salvations.  .       .       .     * .       .  326 


RELIGION  OF  COMMON  LIFE. 


GO  UP  HIGHER. 
"  Friend,  go  up  higher." 

THERE  is  a  climbing  instinct  in  man  which  makes  him 
love  to  go  up  higher.  The  great  popularity  of  Long- 
fellow's little  poem,  "  Excelsior,"  is  due,  in  part,  to  its 
touching  this  much-loved  note.  To  go  to  the  top  of  high 
places  is  attractive.  Therefore,  in  travelling,  we  love  to 
ascend  spires,  towers,  mountains  ;  to  go  to  the  top  of  the 
Pyramids,  the  dome  of  St.  Peter,  the  spire  of  Strasburg  or 
Antwerp,  or  the  lantern  of  our  own  State  House.  For  to 
mount  a  few  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  earth 
seems  to  lift  us  for  the  tim^  above  its  cares  into  a  more  se- 
rene state.  We  look  down  from  the  summit  of  Trinity,  in 
New  York ;  or  St.  Paul's,  in  London ;  or  Notre  Dame,  in 
Paris,  upon  the  streets  which  swarm  below.  The  currents 
of  life  move  on,  but  we  seem  far  away  from  them  ;  the  roar 
of  business  comes  up  to  us,  softened  through  the  interven- 
ing air.  We  look  down  upon  this  hurrying  crowd  with  a 
certain  angelic  composure,  and  wonder  at  its  impatience. 
Its  hurry  and  haste  appear  quite  unnecessary.  To  us^in 
our  sublime  elevation,  bathed  in  the  circumambient  air, 
life  has  suddenly  become  calm,  and  our  soul  is  serene. 
Much  more  is  this  the  case  when  we  go  to  the  summit  of 


2  t  GO    UP   HIGHER. 

a  mountain.  A  deeper  calm  comes  over  us,  and  we  pass 
into  the  region  of  nobler  thoughts.  Climbing  mountains 
has,  in  fact,  become  to  the  English  a  matter  of  business, 
and  they  have  an  Alpine  Club,  the  members  of  which 
search  for  virgin  peaks  not  yet  scaled,  and  who  publish 
each  winter  a  volume  describing  their  summer  triumphs.  I 
confess  to  the  charm  of  these  descriptions.  I  do  not  wish 
to  run  the  risk  myself,  nor  can  I  think  it  right  to  peril  life 
and  limb  for  no  adequate  object ;  yet  there  is  something 
very  interesting  in  these  accounts  of  strenuous  exercise;  of 
the  long,  patient  ascent  from  the  Swiss  valleys,  up  over  the 
steep  meadows,  over  the  rugged  glaciers,  over  the  long  daz- 
zling fields  of  snow,  until,  at  last,  the  sharp  mountain  edge, 
with  precipices  on  either  hand,  is  the  only  method  of  pro- 
gress ;  where  crevasses  are  to  be  crossed  on  thin  bridges  of 
snow,  and  walls  of  ice  are  to  be  climbed  ;  where  the  axe 
must  cut  a  foothold  for  every  step,  and  perpendicular  walls 
of  rock  are  to  be  scaled  ;  with  certain  and  terrible  death 
the  penalty  for  a  moment's  dizziness  or  a  moment's  care- 
lessness. "  Friends,  go  up  higher,"  something  seems  ever 
to  say,  till  at  last  the  mountain  is  conquered,  and  they 
stand  victorious  on  the  submissive  peak,  looking  down  upon 
the  immense  solitudes  below,  the  valleys  far  away,  the 
frozen  rivers  which  plunge  amain  adown  enormous  ravines; 
the  motionless  torrents  and  silent  cataracts ;  the  deep,  deep 
blue  of  the  half  buried  lakes ;  the  sister  mountains,  whose 
silver  peaks  cut  the  air  near  by  or  far  away.  In  that  lofty 
realm  of  silence,  amid  pure  airs  and  snows,  and  rocks  piled 
by  the  hand  of  God,  and  untouched  since  the  morning  of 
creation,  the  soul  within  us  is  also  lifted,  also  purified. 
Therefore  I  do  not  wonder  that  men  like  to  climb,  for  this 
does  give  us  a  certain  experience  not  easily  gained  in  any 
other  way. 

But  all  this  is  but  the  type  and  image  of  moral  climbing. 


GO    UP    HIGHER.  3 

If  the  British  Alpine  Club,  for  scarcely  any  reason,  runs 
these  risks,  and  goes  through  this  toil,  seeking  always  some 
new  danger  to  surmount,  ought  not  we  all  to  become  an 
Alpine  Club,  to  climb  mentally,  morally  and  spiritually  to 
loftier  and  still  loftier  heights  of  excellence  ?  The  Master 
says  to  us  all,  "  Friends,  go  up  higher." 

This  is  what  Jesus  Christ  has  done  for  the  human  race. 
He  has  told  it  to  go  up  higher,  and  it  has  heard  his  voice. 
Christianity  has  been  in  the  world  a  principle  of  progress, 
moral  and  spiritual.  Jesus  said  this  in  his  first  sermon  on 
the  Mount.  What  was  the  substance  of  that  marvellous 
discourse  ?  It  was  that  to  enter  heaven  was  to  be  "  pure 
in  heart,"  humble  in  spirit,  meek  and  merciful ;  that  his 
disciples  were  sent  to  be  "  the  salt  of  the  earth  "  and 
"light  of  the  world;"  that,  therefore,  their  righteousness 
must  "  exceed  that  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  ;  "  that 
their  goodness  must  strike  in  from  the  action  to  the  motive; 
that  their  religion  must  be  in  the  heart,  their  goodness  heart 
goodness,  and  that  they  must  be  "  perfect  as  their  Father 
in  heaven  is  perfect."  Wonderful  words,  uttered  at  such  a 
time,  among  such  a  people  !  Wonderful  confidence,  that 
there  was  in  man  something  to  answer  this  appeal !  Dr. 
Channing  once  said  to  me  in  conversation,  that  the  thing 
which  astonished  him  most  of  all  in  the  character  of  Christ 
was  just  this,  that  he  had  such  profound  faith  in  the  capa- 
city of  men  for  goodness ;  that  he  could  say  such  words  to 
a  people  so  bigoted,  so  ignorant,  and  hard.  "  Why,"  said 
he,  "we  should  have  as  soon  thought  of  saying  to  these 
chairs  and  tables,  '  Be  perfect,  as  your  Father  in  Heaven,' 
as  to  those  Jews." 

But  there  is  something  in  man  which  does  respond  to 
this  call  —  some  chord  in  the  soul  which  rings  in  answer  to 
every  noble  appeal.  We  are  told  that  when,  in  a  play  of 
Terence,  these  words  occurred,  which  have  a   Christian 


4  GO    UP    HIGHER. 

tone  to  them,  "  I  am  a  man,  and  what  concerns  man  con- 
cerns me,''  the  whole  theatre  rose  to  its  feet  in  sympathy. 
And  did  you  ever  notice  that,  in  our  own  theatres,  any  ex- 
pression of  generous  sentiment,  no  matter  how  hackneyed, 
always  brings  applause?  If  the  actor  says,  "I  must  do 
right,  no  matter  though  I  die,"  or  if  he  says,  "  There,  friend, 
take  my  last  dollar,"  the  pit  and  gallery  thunder  sincerest 
applause.  The  sentiment  is  tawdry  and  claptrap,  no  doubt ; 
but  it  proves,  nevertheless,  that  what  every  man  likes  best 
is  generosity,  magnanimity,  heroism,  elevation. 

We  are  all  mean  enough,  and  selfish  enough  ;  but  that  is 
not  what  we  like.  No  orator,  no  writer,  ever  became  wide- 
ly popular  by  appealing  to  low  motives.  But  popularity 
comes  by  appealing  to  this  moral  sentiment.  It  was  because 
Charles  Sumner  was  always  true  to  justice,  freedom,  hu- 
manity, progress,  that  he  had  the  heart  of  the  people 
with  him.  Politicians  often  hoped  to  defeat  him,  and 
wondered  they  could  not  do  it.  It  was  because  he  was  true 
to  a  sentiment  of  honor  and  justice,  and  he  had  his  re- 
ward. 

The  power  of  Jesus  over  the  human  heart  has  been  just 
here.  He  saw  the  evil  of  man,  but  also  saw  his  good.  He 
saw  that  man  is  a  sinner,  but  knew  that  his  sin  is  an  alien 
element,  not  natural  to  him.  Jesus  appealed  to  his  better 
nature.  Men  of  the  world  assume  that  man  is  essentially 
selfish,  and  to  be  moved  by  selfish  considerations.  But 
Christianity  has  called  on  him  to  make  sacrifices,  and  he 
has  denied  himself,  taken  up  his  cross  and  followed  his 
Master  to  the  ends  of  the  world,  seeking  to  save  souls. 
Man  is  sensual,  fond  of  ease,  fond  of  pleasure ;  but,  at  the 
voice  of  Christ,  he  has  renounced  the  world,  and  devoted 
strength  and  life  to  heroic  labors  for  his  Master.  Man 
loves  to  get  and  keep  money  ;  but  Christ-has  taught  him 
to  find  a  higher  pleasure  in  using  it  generously  for  great 


GO    UP    HIGHER.  5 

purposes.  Jesus,  because  he  dared  to  say  "  Go  up  higher," 
has  infused  a  new  element  into  the  world,  and  has  been  the 
salt  of  the  earth. 

I  sometimes  think  that  the  old  lines  which  separate  relig- 
ious sects  and  parties  will  be  obliterated  in  this  country, 
and  new  ones  drawn.  Just  as  the  old  political  parties  of 
fifty  years  ago  have  passed  away,  and  we  no  more  hear  of 
the  Federalists  and  Democrats,  with  whom  the  question 
was  centralized  government  and  local  administration,  but 
other  parties  have  arisen,  and  the  dividing  lines  have  been 
drawn  anew  ;  so,  1  think,  Christians  hereafter  will  cease  to 
divide  on  the  question  of  the  Trinity,  Atonement,  and  De- 
pravity, but  will  group  themselves  around  new  issues. 
What  will  these  be  ?  Some  persons  say  that  the  new  issue 
will  be  ''Naturalism"  and  "Supernaturalism."  I  do  not 
quite  think  so,  for  that  question  seems  to  me  rather  too 
scholastic  to  interest  common  people.  It  seems  to  me  that 
there  is  now,  and  will  be  henceforth,  one  principal  distinc- 
tion between  Christians — between  that  class  which  thinks 
that  Christianity  is  only  to  save  us  from  a  future  hell,  a?id 
put  us  into  a  future  Heaven  by  means  of  its  sacraments,  its 
doctrines,  or  its  mystical  experiences  ;  and  that  class  which 
believes  that  Christianity  comes  to  make  us  go  up  higher, 
to  make  men  holy  and  generous  ;  to  make  them  magnan- 
imous and  brave.  The  real  distinction  between  Christians 
is  this,  that  some  believe  Christianity  to  be  a  kind  of  amulet, 
to  be  worn  round  the  neck,  in  order  to  save  us  when  we 
die  ;  and  others  believe  it  to  be  an  inspiration  and  law  to 
keep  in  the  heart,  to  ennoble  us  while  we  live.  In  short, 
some  believe  the  influence  of  Christ  to  be  magical,  and 
others  believe  it  to  be  moral. 

The  best  way  to  escape  many  difficulties  which  beset  us 
on  a  lower  plane  is  to  go  up  to  a  higher  one.  It  is  some- 
times easier  to  go  up  than  to  stand  still  where  we  are.     In 


6  GO    UP    HIGHER. 

climbing  a  precipitous  rock,  if  you  stop,  you  may  grow 
dizzy,  and  be  in  danger  of  falling;  but  if  you  push  upward, 
you  are  safe.  So,  sometimes,  if  you  find  it  hard  to  do  your 
duty,  try  to  do  more,  not  less.  Adopt  a  higher  standard, 
go  up  to  a  higher  ground.  Then  you  have  more  motive, 
purer  air,  better  inspiration.  If  it  is  hard  to  be  a  moder- 
ately good  Christian,  try  to  become  a  better  one  ;  you  will  \ 
often  find  that  easier.  To  give  yourself  wholly  to  what  is 
true  and  good  is  easier  than  to  halt  between  two  opinions. 
When  you  try  to  compromise  between  right  and  wrong,  to 
be  moderately  just,  to  be  truthful  to  a  certain  extent,  and  re- 
ligious without  ceasing  to  be  worldly,  it  is  a  hard  matter. 
But  if  we  say,  "  We  will  do  whatsoever  things  are  just, 
whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  noble,"  it 
simplifies  the  matter  amazingly.  To  stand  still  and  be  de- 
cimated by  the  enemy's  cannon  is  harder  than  to  charge, 
and  many  a  lost  battle  has  been  retrieved  by  a  leader  who 
knew  how  to  inspire  his  troops  with  hopeful  ardor,  and  to 
fling  them  on  the  foe.  Everyone  who  has  to  collect  money 
for  a  good  object  knows  that  it  is  often  easier  to  get  a  large 
sum  than  a  small  one. 

One  thing  which  caused  Christianity  to  triumph  over 
Judaism  was  that  it  was  a  higher  religion,  demanding  more, 
but  also  giving  more.  The  old  Jewish  system  was  a  heavy 
work,  a  task  work,  a  routine  of  duties  and  ceremonies, 
"  which,"  say  the  Apostle,  "  neither  we,  nor  our  fathers 
^Avere  able  to  bear."  But  Jesus  made  it  easier  to  do  this  by 
giving  them  more  to  do.  He  did  not  say  '*  I  am  come  to 
give  you  rest,  by  giving  you  less  to  do  ;  "  but  he  said,  "  except 
your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  not  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  He  said  that  not  a  jot  nor  a  tittle  should  pass 
from  the  law  until  all  of  it  was  fulfilled.  It  is  hard  to  do 
our  duty,  when  duty  is  a  task,  a  drudgery,  s^  much  tot-; 


GO    UP    HIGHER.  7 

done  every  day.  But  when  it  is  a  spirit  inspiring  all  of  life  ; 
when  it  is  the  love  of  God  and  man  ;  the  love  of  all  ex- 
cellence; joy  in  fighting  a  good  fight ;  the  happiness  found 
in  making  others  happy ;  when  it  thus  takes  in  all  of  life, 
then  it  becomes  at  once  a  great  deal  more,  and  a  great  deal 
easier. 

And  so  of  religion.  If  religion  is  "  saying  our  prayers  " 
so  many  times  a  day ;  if  it  is  going  to  church  on  Sunday  ; 
if  it  is  joining  the  church,  and  "  making  a  prof ession  ;  "  if  it 
is  adopting  a  certain  tone  in  conversation,  abstaining  from 
certain  amusements,  and  doing  certain  works  ;  then,  though 
it  does  not  amount  to  a  great  deal,  it  is  not  a  very  easy  mat- 
ter, because  it  is  a  burden  and  a  yoke.  But  if  religion 
consists  in  "  going  up  higher,"  if  it  is  progress  from  bad  to 
good,  from  good  to  better ;  if  prayer  is  simply  being  with 
God  all  day  long,  talking  with  him  when  we  feel  like  it ; 
enjoying  sunlight  and  summer  the  more  because  he  is  in 
them  ;  bearing  trial  and  sorrow  cheerfully  because  the 
Heavenly  Father  sends  them  ;  sure  that  all  things  are  right 
which  he  ordains,  and  glad  to  do  the  smallest  service,  to 
any  one  of  his  children,  however  humble,  because  he 
loves  them  all — if  this  is  religion,  to  trust,  to  hope,  to  love  ; 
why,  then  it  is  a  great  deal  higher  than  all  the  old  formalities, 
but  it  is  also  a  great  deal  easier  and  simpler  and  sweeter 
than  those. 

If  we  live  in  such  a  spirit  as  this,  then  life  itself  will 
lead  us  up  higher.  As  we  grow  older,  we  shall  become 
better.  Men  and  women  of  good-will,  whose  aims  are  pure 
and  true,  do  grow  better  as  they  grow  older.  They  are  like 
those  clear  October  days,  when  the  air  is  so  pure  and  so 
exhilarating ;  when  the  heats  of  summer  are  gone,  when 
the  grapes  are  growing  sweet  on  the  vine,  the  apples  grow- 
ing mellow  on  the  trees.  Decay  has  scarcely  begun  to 
touch  the  green  leaves  with  its  effacing  fingers  ;  the  red 


8  GO   UP    HIGHER. 

battle-flags  of  autumn  are  just  beginning  to  wave  in  the 
forest,  the  advanced  guard  of  the  winter.  So,  good  men 
and  women,  as  they  advance  towards  age,  are  apt  to  grow 
more  mellow  and  tender,  to  bear  better  fruits  in  word  and 
deed,  purified  from  the  hot  passions  of  youth,  and  redeemed 
from  the  struggles  of  ambitious  manhood. 
y  But  besides  this  gradual  ascent  of  life,  our  road  some- 
times rises  over  hills,  from  which  we  again  descend  into 
valleys.  On  the  hills  we  rest  a  moment  and  look  over  the 
level  plain  below,  breathe  for  a  little  while  the  purer  air, 
enjoy  the  larger  landscape,  and  then  pass  down  upon  the 
more  even  level  of  common  days.  Such  a  hill-top  is  the 
Lord's  day,  when  we  rest  from  tormenting  cares,  dwell  for 
an  hour  or  two  in  contemplation  of  higher  themes,  and  then 
turn  refreshed  to  the  work  of  every-day  life.  The  Lord's 
day  is  no  more  holy,  no  more  sacred,  than  other  days  ;  for 
every  day  that  dawns  comes  to  us  direct  from  God,  and 
on  every  day  we  are  to  serve  him.  But  each  returning  Sun- 
day is  a  little  hill-top  on  which  we  rest,  and  from  which 
we  look  forward. 

And  there  are  other  mounts  in  life,  when  we  go  into  some 
mountain  summit  of  thought,  as  Jesus  and  his  disciples 
ascended  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration.  When  God  gives 
us  a  dear  child,  or  when  he  takes  the  dear  child  away,  we 
are  taken  up  into  a  mount  of  transfiguration.  We  are  taken 
away  from  the  lower  world,  and  our  faces  are  transfigured 
in  the  light  of  an  open  heaven.  Holy  hours  come  some- 
times to  all  of  us,  freighted  with  love,  when  life  seems 
worth  living,  and  we  feel  a  profound  rest.  All  weariness 
is  gone,  all  loneliness  ;  we  have  a  perfect  peace  in  our  heart. 
We  say,  like  Peter.  "  Let  us  stay  here.  Let  us  put  up 
tents  here,  and  live  always  on  this  enchanted  ground."  But 
the  inexorable  current  carries  us  on,  and  we  descend  again 
from  that  mountain.     It  recedes  into  the  pale  distance,  and 


GO    UP    HIGHER.  9 

stands  at  last  almost  a  transparent  cloud  on  the  far  horizon  ; 
yet  we  occasionally  turn  back  and  look  at  it,  and  are  en- 
couraged by  the  knowledge  that  there  are  such  moments  in 
life,  worth  all  the  rest,  which  remain  as  the  master  lights 
of  all  our  seeing ;  which  strengthen  us  in  our  weakness 
and  comfort  us  in  our  sorrow.  They  are  sent  to  teach  us 
to  "go  higher." 

A  lady  once  said  to  Mr.  Whittier,  "  I  must  thank  you 
for  your  '  Psalm,'  for  it  always  suits  me  exactly."  "  I  wish, 
madam,"  the  sincere  poet  replied,  "that  it  always  suited 
me."  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  we  shall  forever  remain 
on  the  elevations  we  are  competent  sometimes  to  reach. 
We  have  hours  of  perfect  peace,  followed  by  other  hours  of 
discomfort  and  impatience ;  hours  in  which  we  almost 
forget  that  God  or  man  has  ever  loved  us.  Be  thankful 
that,  thougk  we  may  thus  forget  God,  he  does  not  forget  us. 
And  be  thankful  if  you  know,  by  your  own  experience,  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  peace,  even  though  you  may  for 
the  time  have  lost  it.  You  have  not  really  lost  it,  if  you 
have  ever  really  had  it.  God  never  takes  back  his  gifts. 
If  he  ever  gave  you  a  sight  of  his  truth  and  love,  you  have 
it  still.  Clouds  may  pass  between  you  and  the  sun,  but  the 
sun  is  there  and  will  shine  forth  again.  It  may  be  a  stormy 
night,  but  the -stars  are  shining  permanent  and  pure,  behind 
the  driving  rain,  and  will  again  look  out  upon  you  with 
their  calm  eyes,  and  say,  from  their  inaccessible  and  infinite 
heights,  "  Be  patient,  little  child  !  be  patient  !  and  wait  till 
all  storms  and  all  darkness  shall  have  passed  away  forever." 

Sometimes  one  who  has  gone  up  high  may  learn  a  lesson 
from  one  who  seems  to  stand  much  lower  down. 

An  Oriental  story  tells  us  that  they  asked  the  famous 
Hatim  Tayi,  the  most  generous  of  mankind,  "  Have  you 
ever  met  any'one  more  independent  than  yourself  ?  "  He 
replied :  "  Yes  !     One  day  I  gave   a  feast  to  the  whole 


10  GO   UP    HIGHER. 

neighborhood,  and  had  fifty  oxen  roasted.  As  I  was 
proceeding  to  the  place,  I  found  a  woodcutter,  tying  up  his 
faggots.  I  said,  '  Why  do  you  not  go  to  Hatim's  feast, 
which  is  open  to  all  ? '  But  he  answered,  '  Whoever  can 
eat  the  bread  earned  by  his  own  labor,  will  not  put  himself 
under  obligation  to  Hatim  Tayi.'  Then  I  knew  that  I  had 
found  one  more  independent  than  myself."  Sometimes,  a 
man  who  is  on  a  low  level,  a  man  who  pretends  to  no  good- 
ness, and  perhaps  has  very  little,  does  some  action  far 
above  the  reach  of  common  virtue.  The  Publican,  who 
stood  afar  off,  and  uttered  his  immortal  prayer,  the  echo 
of  which  teaches  Christians  in  the  nineteenth  century  how 
to  pray,  was  not  as  good,  it  may  be,  as  the  Pharisee,  whose 
petition  to  God  was  only  a  piece  of  egotism.  The  worst 
men  may  shame  the  best,  sometimes,  by  actions  much 
nobler  than  they  ever  perform.  The  publicans  and 
harlots  sometimes  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  before 
us,  and  the  people  of  Nineveh,  who  repented  at  the  preach- 
ing of  Jonah,  shame  us,  who  listen  to  the  words  of  Christ 
unmoved  and  unchanged. 

Let  us,  then,  go  up  higher.  That  is  always  the  safest, 
happiest,  easiest  thing  to  do.  It  may  seem  harder  at  first, 
but  in  the  long  run  it  is  the  easiest.  It  is  easier  when  we 
have  a  high  and  noble  purpose,  which  animates  life  with  a 
good  object,  which  makes  the  world  a  good  place,  which 
prepares  us  equally  to  live  and  to  die.  So,  sometimes, 
pain,  and  darkness,  may  carry  us  up  higher,  no  less  than 
light,  peace  and  joy.  For  when  Jesus  ascended  the  Mount 
of  Transfiguration  and  talked  with  God's  saints,  and  his 
face  shone  like  theirs,  he  did  not  go  up  so  high  as  when  he 
ascended  Mount  Calvary,  and  in  the  darkness  of  his  anguish 
cried,  "  My  God  !  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  Sorrow 
and  evil  may  carry  us  up  nearer  to  God  than  peace  and 
joy.     We  all  go  down  as  well  as  up,  but  only  in  the  gospel 


GO   UP   HIGHER.  II 

do  we  find  that  going  downwards  as  well  as  upwards  may 
bring  us  nearer  to  God. 

To  him,  from  wanderings  long  and  wild, 
I  come,  an  overwearied  child, 
In  cool  and  shade  his  peace  to  find 
Like  dew-fall  settling  on  my  mind. 
From  book  and  speech  of  man  apart, 
To  the  still  witness  in  my  heart ; 
With  reverence  waiting  to  behold 
The  Eternal  Beauty,  New  and  Oldl 


0by  Of  THE 

fTJHfVBRSITY: 


II. 

"SET   THY    HOUSE    IN    ORDER." 
"  Set  thy  house  in  order,  for  thou  shalt  die,  and  not  live." 

THERE  was  once  a  German  nobleman  who  led  a  fool- 
ish and  dissipated  life  ;  drinking,  gambling  and  ne- 
glecting his  vassals,  his  family  and  his  affairs.  He  had  a 
dream,  one  night,  which  vividly  impressed  him.  He  saw 
a  figure,  looking  at  him  with  serious  face,  and  pointing  to 
a  dial,  where  the  hands  marked  the  hour  of  IV.  The  fig- 
ure looked  at  him  sadly,  and  said  these  words,  **  After 
Four  ! "  and  disappeared.  The  nobleman  awoke  in  great 
terror,  and  thought  that  vision  foreboded  his  speedy  death. 
"  After  -Four !  "  What  could  it  mean  ?  It  must  mean  that 
he  was  to  die  after  four  (fays,  so  he  determined  to  set  his 
house  in  order.  He  sent  for  the  priest,  and  confessed  his 
sins,  and  received  absolution.  He  sent  for  his  family,  and 
begged  their  forgiveness  for  his  offences  against  them.  He 
sent  for  his  man  of  business,  and  arranged  his  affairs  as 
well  as  he  could.  He  then  waited  for  death.  The  four 
days  passed,  and  he  did  not  die.  He  then  thought  that 
perhaps  the  vision  meant  that  he  was  to  die  after  four 
weeks.  He  had  a  longer  time  for  preparation  ;  so  he  de- 
voted these  four  weeks  to  making  atonement  for  all  the 
evil  he  had  done  in  the  world,  and  doing  all  the  good  he 
could.  The  four  weeks  passed  and  he  still  was  alive.  Then 
he  thought  it  meant  four  months,  and  so  he  spent  these 


"set  thy  house  in  order.  13 

four  months  in  a  more  thorough  repentance  :  he  did  all  the 
good  he  could  in  that  time,  on  his  estates ;  he  found  out 
all  the  poor  and  the  sufferers,  and  helped  them.  The  four 
,  months  passed,  and  he  did  not  die.  Then  he  said,  "  It  is 
plain  that  the  vision  meant  four  years.  I  have  four  years 
to  live ;  let  me  do  all  the  good  I  can  in  that  time."  So, 
during  that  four  years,  he  gave  all  his  thoughts  and  time 
to  others  ;  did  all  he  could  for  his  neighbors,  his  vassals, 
the  poor  •  and  also  took  useful  and  honorable  part  in  pub- 
lic affairs.  At  the  end  of  four  years,  instead  of  dying,  he 
was  chosen  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  became  one  of  the 
best  Emperors  that  ever  was  elected.  The  expectation  of 
death  had  taught  him  how  to  live.  It  was  natural  that  it 
should  do  so. 

^"""  If  each  one  of  us  here  should  know  that  we  had  only 
four  days,  months  or  years  to  live,  we  should,  in  like 
manner,  very  probably,  make  an  effort  to  improve  our  life, 
and  to  spend  the  time  that  remained  to  us  in  the  best  way. 
For  one  thing,  we  should  value  more  the  time  remaining 
to  us,  and  try  to  use  it  to  better  purpose,  if  we  knew  that 
we  had  only  a  precise  and  definite  quantity.  Now,  it  seems 
to  us  that  we  have  an  indefinite,*  therefore  an  unlimited 
quantity,  and  therefore  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  be 
careful  in  the  use  of  it. 

\S  The  German  nobleman  of  whom  we  have  spoken  thought 
he  was  preparing  to  die ;  but,  in  fact,  he  was  preparing  to 
live.  He  was  setting  his  house  in  order  ;  getting  ready  to 
live.  And  this  is  the  point  which  is  most  worth  our 
attention  —  the  preparation  necessary  in  order  to  live.  When 
one  is  dangerously  sick,  it  is  common  for  religious  persons 
to  inquire  whether  he  is  prepared  to  die.  We  feel — and  feel 
rightly — that,  before  such  a  momentous  change,  it  is 
important  to  be  prepared.  One  wishes  to  arrange  his 
affairs,  to  make  his  will,  to  take  leave  of  his  friends,  to 


14  "SET   THY   HOUSE    IN    ORDER. 

forgive  his  enemies  and  to  ask  their  forgiveness,  to  finish 
any  work  which  he  has  begun,  to  leave  some  token  of 
affection  with  those  he  loves,  to  do  some  good  to  those 
who  depend  on  him  and  whom  he  can  help  ;  lastly,  to  make 
his  peace  with  God,  and  to  give  his  heart,  in  prayer,  sub- 
mission, penitence  and  faith,  to  the  Almighty. 

This  is  all  natural  and  right.  But  all  this  would  be 
better  done  if  it  were  done  while  we  live,  and  for  the  sake 
of  life  —  not  merely  when  we  are  about  to  die.  Let  us, 
therefore,  see  how  we  can  set  our  house  in  order,  that  we 
may  live. 

This  command  is  for  all  of  us.  God  says  to  each  of  us, 
to-day,  "  Set  thy  house  in  order,  for  thou  shalt  live."  Life 
is  the  serious  thing,  and  we  have  to  live.  Death  is  serious ; 
but  life  more  so.  We  have  no  responsibility  about  dying, 
but  a  great  deal  about  living.  When  we  die,  we  fall  into 
the  hands  of  God,  to  go  where  he  shall  take  us,  to  have 
what  he  shall  give  us,  and  to  be  what  he  shall  make  of  us. 
All  we  have  to  do  is  to  wait  and  to  receive.  But  when 
we  live,  we  take  up  our  own  work,  and  have  our  own  lot 
to  choose.  We  fall  into  our  own  hands  every  morning, 
and  that  is  far  more  alarming  than  to  be  in  God's  hands. 
\S  When  men  are  about  to  die,  they  begin  by  setting  in 
order  the  house  of  their  affairs.  But  they  ought  to  do  this 
the  more  when  they  are  about  to  live. 

One  dpes  not  like  to  die,  and  to  leave  his  accounts  un- 
settled, his  papers  in  confusion,  his  letters  unassorted,  his 
property  in  an  entangled  state.  Therefore  he  sorts  his 
papers,  burns  his  letters  or  files  them,  makes  his  will,  that 
there  may  be  as  little  trouble  for  his  executors  as  possible. 
This  is  right,  no  doubt.     He  ought  to  do  it. 

But  why  not  do  this  in  order  to  live  ?  Why  not  do  it  to 
save  himself  trouble  ?  Why  not,  in  order  to  do  all  his  work 
well  and  easily  ? 


"SET   THY    HOUSE    IN    ORDER."  1 5 

^  I  like  those  persons  who  are  their  own  executors  —  who 
give  away  all  they  can  while  they  are  alive.  Then  they 
have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  themselves,  the  good  their 
money  does,  and  also  the  satisfaction  of  managing  it  them- 
selves. 

iiS  Mr.  Girard  left  two  millions  with  which  to  build  and  en- 
dow a  college,  and  he  gave,  in  his  will,  minute  directions  as 
to  how  it  should  be  built  and  conducted.  The  city  of  Phi- 
ladelphia and  the  Philadelphia  lawyers  contrived  to  evade 
his  most  positive  directions.  He  ordered  a  perfectly  plain 
fire-proof  building,  of  stone  and  iron.  But  it  would  have 
looked  like  an  ugly  stone  barn  or  prison ;  and  an  architect 
was  found  to  testify  that  it  needed  a  portico  of  columns 
around  it  to  hold  it  up.  So  they  added  a  portico  of  thirty- 
four  columns,  each  fifty-five  feet  high  and  six  feet  in  diam- 
eter, making  the  most  splendid  specimen  of  Greek  archi- 
tecture in  America.  If  Mr.  Girard  had  set  his  house  in 
order  while  he  was  alive  he  would  have  had  such  an  one  as 
he  wanted.  The  poor  man  who  gives  away  his  surplus  every 
day  has  more  satisfaction  out  of  it. 

K  But  besides  the  house  of  affairs,  there  is  also  the  house 
of  the  thoughts  to  be  set  in  order.  Many  people  wait  till 
they  are  about  to  die  before  they  think  at  all  on  the  most 
important  subjects  of  thought.  Then,  into  the  confusion 
of  a  sick  man's  brain,  they  try  to  introduce  order,  and  to  ar- 
range a  creed.  So  we  hear  of  death-bed  conversions  from 
one  belief  to  another,  if  the  unfortunate  patient  falls  into 
the  hands  of  a  proselytizing  minister.  A  Kentucky  lady, 
whom  I  knew,  went  to  New  Orleans,  and  there  died.  But 
on  her  death-bed  she  sent  for  a  Presbyterian  minister,  who, 
when  he  found  that  she  was  a  Unitarian,  began  to  talk  to 
her  about  her  opinions,  and  tried  to  convert  her  to  his  own. 
But  she  said,  "  I  formed  these  views  and  came  to  these 
conclusions  when  I  was  well  and  strong.     That  was  the 


1 6  "  SET   THY   HOUSE    IN    ORDER. 

right  time  to  form  them.  This  is  no  time  to  unsettle  them. 
Let  my  opinions  alone,  but  increase  my  faith  if  you  can.  I 
believe  in  God ;  I  wish  to  believe  more  entirely.  I  trust  in 
Christ  j  I  wish  to  trust  in  him  more.  Help  me  to  repent, 
to  submit,  to  love."  So  the  good  man  put  away  his  creed, 
and  prayed  with  her.  She  had  set  her  house  of  thought  in 
order  while  she  was  well,  and  in  this  she  did  wisely. 

We  need  a  clear  and  systematic  belief  to  live  by,  not  to 
die  by.  We  need  it  to  save  us  from  hesitation  and  uncer- 
tainty when  the  time  of  action  comes.  We  need  it  to  guide 
others  who  are  in  doubt,  to  see  all  events  that  occur  in  the 
holy  light  of  Christianity  ;  to  see  sorrow  and  trial  glorified 
by  a  divine  love  j  to  comprehend,  with  all  saints,  what  is  the 
length,  and  breadth  and  depth  and  height  of  the  love  of 
God. 

Then  there  is  the  house  of  the  affections  to  be  set  in 
order,  and  this  ought  to  be  done  while  we  live. 

Many  wait  till  they  are  about  to  die  before  they  look 
into  their  heart  to  see  what  is  there.  Then  they  find  how 
cold  their  love  has  been  to  their  friends  ;  how  they  have 
neglected  opportunities  of  showing  affection  and  good  will  j 
how,  absorbed  in  selfish  thoughts  and  pursuits,  they  have 
not  thought  of  the  happiness  of  others.  In  the  stillness  of 
the  sick  chamber,  as  they  look  back,  how  empty  their  years 
seem  of  good  !  What  return  have  they  made  for  the  ex- 
ceeding love  of  parents,  of  husband,  of  wife,  of  brother  and 
sister,  of  friends  ?  Love  has  been  showered  on  them  like 
sunlight ;  but,  as  the  sunlight  falls  on  the  inaccessible 
summit  of  some  frozen  Alpine  peak,  so  it  has  fallen  on 
their  hearts,  leaving  them  unmelted  into  any  tenderness. 
44  Oh,"  they  cry,  "  if  I  could  only  set  this  house  in  order,  if 
I  could  only  have  time  to  love  as  I  ought  those  who  have 
lov.-d  me  so  well !  But  it  is  too  late  now !  "  What  bitter- 
ness is  in  that  thought !     But  the  bitterness  is  wholesome, 


17 

and  it  often  happens  that  the  man  who  has  been  cold  and 
hard  through  life  softens  in  his  last  days,  and  in  his  sick 
chamber,  into  an  unspeakable  tenderness  and  gentleness 
of  spirit.  And  such  is  the  nature  of  the  human  heart,  that 
these  last  hours  of  unproductive  tenderness  seem  to  atone 
for  all  the  hard  years  that  preceded  them  —  and  the  wife 
and  children  remember  him  as  he  was  in  his  dying  room, 
and  say,  "  That  was  our  father,  that  was  his  true  life." 
But  is  it  well  to  waste  fifty  years  in  cold,  hard,  self-folded 
indifference,  and  to  set  the  house  of  the  heart  in  order 
only  when  just  about  to  go  away  ?  Would  it  not  be  better 
to  have  a  little  thoughtful  love  spread  over  each  day ;  a 
few  kind  words,  uttered  every  morning  and  every  evening, 
some  little  acts  of  good  will  to  refresh  life  all  along  its 
route  ?  Would  it  not  be  well  to  fill  one's  life  full  of  that 
which  Wordsworth  says  constitutes  the  largest  portion  of  a 
good  man's  life — 

"  The  little,  nameless,  unremembered  acts 
Of  kindness  and  of  love  ?  " 

I  know  that  the  human  heart  is  sometimes  like  the  Amer- 
ican aloe,  which  stands  fifty  years  a  dry  dead  stalk,  and 
then  springs  up,  and  in  a  few  days  clothes  itself  with 
flowers.  Let  us  be  thankful  for  that,  if  we  can  have  no 
more.  But  in  the  parable  of  the  talents  we  are  taught  that 
the  good  servants  were  those  who  used  their  Lord's  money 
so  that  it  was  increasing  all  the  time  they  had  it,  and  not 
merely  during  the  few  hours  which  preceded  his  return. 

We  also  need  to  set  in  order  the  house  of  the  Spirit. 
This  preparation,  more  than  any  other,  is  apt  to  be  left  to 
the  hour  of  death.  Men,  about  to  die,  bethink  them  of 
making  their  peace  with  God,  and  turn  to  religion.  Then, 
for  the  first  time,  they  remember  that  they  are  sinners, 
and  ask  for  pardon.  Then,  first,  they  feel  their  own  weak- 
ness, and  pray  for  help.     It  is  good  to  do  so  \  it  is  good 

2 


1 8  "  SET   THY   HOUSE    IN    ORDER." 

to  pass  through  this  experience  then,  if  one  has  never  had 
it  before. 

But  how  much  better  it  is  to  set  in  order  the  house  of 
the  spirit,  all  through  our  life !  Religion,  true  religion,  is 
to  help  us  to  live —  nobly,  truly,  generously.  It  is  to  en- 
able us  to  perform  every-day  duties  faithfully,  to  endure 
common  trials,  patiently.  False  religions,  the  religions  of 
priestcraft,  offer  their  ceremonies  as  a  viaticum,  to  help  the 
soul  to  escape  unknown  dangers  hereafter,  and  obtain  mys- 
terious joys. 

It  used  to  be  said,  by  way  of  objection  to  liberal  Chris- 
tianity, that  it  is  a  good  religion  to  live  by,  but  bad  to  die 
by.  The  objection  is  illogical ;  any  religion  which  is  good 
to  live  by  must  be  good  to  die  by.  No  religion  can  be 
good  to  live  by  which  does  not  make  men  live  noble  and 
pure  lives  ;  and  what  better  preparation  for  death  can 
there  be  than  this  ?  When  Jesus  said,  u  The  tree  is  known 
by  its  fruits,"  and  gave  this  as  a  test  by  which  to  distin- 
guish true  teachers  from  false  ones,  he  referred  to  fruits 
which  could  be  known  in  this  life,  else  his  warning  and 
test  would  be  useless.  According  to  this,  he  is  a  true 
teacher  of  Christianity  whose  doctrine  enables  men  to  live 
good  lives  here ;  not  he  who  merely  gives  them  a  ticket  by 
which  they  may  be  enabled  to  enter  heaven  hereafter. 
We  need  religion,  we  need  the  sense  of  a  divine  presence 
and  a  divine  love,  to  enable  us  to  be  true  and  faithful  in 
this  world.  We  need  forgiveness  for  this  life,  not  for  the 
life  to  come. 

Nations  are  also  called  on  to  set  their  house  in  order. 
When  a  form  of  government,  intended  to  protect  the  people 
in  their  rights,  is  abused  to  put  a  monopoly  of  power  in 
the  hands  of  a  few,  it  is  time  to  set  the  house  in  order. 
Our  country  was  called  upon,  in  1861,  in  the  Providence 
of  God,  to  set  its  house  in  order.     If  there  is  a  flaw  in  a 


19 

cannon,  it  may  be  fired  a  great  many  times,  but  each  time 
the  flaw  grows  a  little  larger,  the  crack  a  little  wider,  and 
at  last  the  cannon  bursts.  An  unsettled  question  as  to  the 
relation  between  State  sovereignty  and  the  Federal  sover- 
eignty was  the  flaw  in  our  Constitution.  The  Constitution 
nowhere  decided  that  conflict  of  sovereignties.  Very  good 
arguments  were  made  on  both  sides,  but  the  fact  that  argu- 
ments had  to  be  made,  showed  that  there  was  a  defect  in 
our  Constitution.  We  fired  the  cannon  eighteen  times  ; 
on  the  nineteenth  it  burst.  We  passed  through  eighteen 
Presidential  elections  ;  on  the  nineteenth  came  the  Rebel- 
lion. 

Then  behind  this  difficulty  lay  the  greater  inconsistency  of 
Slavery — another  fatal  defect.  There  existed  the  irrepres- 
sible antagonism  of  two  contradictory  elements — the  Aris- 
tocracy of  Slaveholding,  and  the  Democracy  of  Equal  Rights. 

The  nation  was  called  upon  to  set  its  house  in  order. 
It  had  to  put  down  the  rebellion,  but  in  doing  it  it  must 
also  repair  forever  these  two  original  defects.  We  had  to 
restore  the  Union,  but  in  restoring  it  leave  out  these  two 
fatal  inconsistencies.  We  had  to  decide  two  points  — 
whether  the  States  are  supreme,  or  the  Nation ;  and 
whether  Slavery  was  to  be  supreme,  or  Freedom. 

Thank  God,  both  were  decided  the  right  way.  We 
waited  till  we  were  at  the  point  of  death  before  we  set  our 
house  in  order.  But  how  much  better  it  would  have  been 
to  have  settled  the  question  of  State  sovereignties  at 
the  time  of  the  South  Carolina  nullification,  when  we 
had  General  Jackson  for  President,  and  he  on  the  right 
side !  Henry  Clay  then  made  a  compromise  which  settled 
nothing  —  as,  in  1850,  he  helped  to  make  another  com- 
promise of  the  Slavery  difficulty  which  settled  nothing.  In 
neither  instance  did  we  set  our  house  in  order — we  merely 


20  "SET   THY   HOUSE    IN    ORDER." 

patched  over  the  surface  of  the  wall  with  badly-tempered 
mortar,  so  that  "if  a  fox  went  up,  he  would  break  it 
down."  But  by  the  dread  arbitrament  of  war  these  two 
questions  have  been  absolutely  settled,  and  by  that  settle- 
ment the  nation  is  prepared  to  live.  They  might  have 
been  settled,  and  would  have  been  better  settled,  without 
war  j  but  better  a  settlement  by  war  than  the  nation's  death. 

Europe  looked  at  us  with  astonishment  and  complacent 
satisfaction,  and  said,  "  The  great  republic  has  gone  to 
pieces.  Art  thou  become  like  one  of  us  ?  God  has  said 
to  it,  Set  thy  house  in  order,  for  thou  shalt  die,  and  not 
live."  But  God  was  really  saying  to  us,  "  Set  thy  house  in 
order,  that  thou  mayst  live,  and  not  die."  We  have  risen, 
through  this  awful  struggle,  to  a  higher  national  life.  We 
have  become  one  people,  —  one  in  the  supremacy  of  Free- 
dom, one  in  the  triumph  of  true  Democracy,  one  in  the 
final  destruction  of  the  heresy  of  State  sovereignties.  As, 
when  the  fiery  tide  of  lava  breaks  its  way  through  the  su- 
perincumbent rock,  and  pours  up  its  liquid  raging  mass 
through  the  limestone  or  the  silex,  it  changes  them  as  it 
passes  into  precious  stones  and  marbles;  so  this  great 
fiery  tide  of  war,  pouring  up  through  the  national  institu- 
tions and  habits,  changed  our  barren  lives  into  something 
higher,  —  gave  to  us  nobler  aims,  clearer  insights,  more 
generous  sympathies,  and  lifted  the  whole  nation  to  a 
higher  level  of  life. 

Let  us,  then,  set  our  house  in  order,  that  we  may  live  ! 
The  house  of  our  affairs,  that  we  may  act  efficiently  and 
usefully  ;  the  house  of  our  thoughts,  that  we  may  see 
clearly  what  to  do,  and  how  to  do  it ;  the  house  of  our 
affections,  that  we  may  shed  warm  sunshine  around  us,  on 
all  the  hearts  near  us  :  the  house  of  our  soul,  that  bein^ 
led  by  God,  and  inspired  by  him,  we  may  have  his  peace 
in  our  souls  evermore,  and  live  his  eternal  life. 


III. 

THE  TWO  HANDLES. 
.    "  Take  hold  of  this." 

EPICTETUS,  the  wise  slave,  who  was  in  Greece  what 
Dr.  Franklin  was  in  America,  and  whose  proverbs 
have  the  same  touch  of  common  sense  in  them  as  have  the 
Proverbs  of  Solomon,  gives  us  in  one  place  a  parable  of 
"  The  Two  Handles."  "  Everything,"  says  he,  "  has  two 
handles.  By  the  one  it  can  be  easily  carried  ;  by  the  other 
not  at  all.  Thus,  if  your  brother  has  injured  you,  do  not 
take  hold  of  this  event  on  the  side  of  the  injury,  for  that 
handle  will  not  support  it "  (it  is,  as  we  say,  intolerable), 
"  but  take  hold  of  it  by  the  other  handle,  and  say,  '  Well, 
he  is  my  brother,  after  all,  we  were  brought  up  together 
in  the  same  house/  " 

Precisely  the  same  idea  is  expressed,  and  the  same  illus- 
tration used  by  Jesus  in  the  Parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son. 
When  the  elder  son  returned  from  the  field,  and  saw  the  re- 
joicing over  his  unworthy  brother's  return,  he  took  hold  of 
the  fact  by  the  handle  of  his  brother's  bad  conduct  and  his 
own  good  conduct.  "  I  have  always  done  right,  and  he  has 
behaved  shamefully.  You  never  gave  me  a  kid,  and  you  have 
killed  the  calf  for  him."  But  notice  how  the  father  pre- 
sents to  him  the  other  handle  :  "  This,  thy  brother,  was 
dead,  and  is  alive  again.  All  I  have  is  yours  ;  you  and  I 
are  doing  this  together  for  him."  Observe  the  value  of 
that  little  pronoun  "  we."     He  does  not  say,  "  It  was  meet 


22  THE   TWO   HANDLES. 

that  /should  do  it,"  but  "  It  was  meet  that  we  should  make 
merry  and  be  glad,"  thus  assuming  that  the  brother  and 
father  were  both  united  in  this  generous  reception  of  the 
penitent. 

Almost    everything  has  a  pleasant  and  an  unpleasant 
handle  ;  there  is  something  agreeable  and  something  disa-  * 
greeable  in  all  that  we  see  and  meet  and  have  to  do  with. 
Some  take  such  things  by  the  pleasant  and  agreeable  handle, 
and  others  take  them  by  the  opposite  one. 

Many  persons,  in  travelling,  seem  bent  on  seeing  only 
what  is  disagreeable.  They  go  from  Dan  to  Beersheba, 
and  find  it  all  barren.  On  the  same  trip,  even  in  a  horse 
car  going  through  Washington  Street,  you  may  often  meet 
both  classes  of  travellers.  One  is  complaining  of  the  dust, 
the  noise,  the  disagreeable  people  in  the  car.  Everything 
is  flat  and  commonplace  to  him.  Another  cannot  go  from 
Boston  to  Dorchester  without  encountering  some  agreeable 
stranger,  or  some  interesting  adventure.  I  have  read  books 
of  travels,  where  the  journey  led  through  a  charming  coun- 
try and  a  curious  society  ;  but  the  traveller  saw  nothing  of 
it.  His  book  was  full  of  personal  annoyances  ;  how  he 
lost  his  dinner  here,  and  ate  a  bad  one  there ;  how  he  was 
cheated  in  this  inn,  and  could  find  no  soap  in  that.  He 
judges  the  country,  its  customs,  its  people,  its  laws,  by  the 
habits  of  his  own  village  in  Connecticut  or  England.  So  he 
sees  nothing  and  learns  nothing.  He  began  his  journey 
with  a  full  purse  and  empty  head  ;  he  has  emptied  the  first 
without  filling  the  second. 

Washington  Irving  walks  through  England,  and  its  vil- 
lages, its  ancestral  homes,  its  rural  population  become  warm 
with  tender  and  pathetic  life.  Theodore  Winthrop  goes  to 
Katahdin,  and  the  rude  farmer  and  patient  ox  grow  fasci- 
nating in  his  sympathetic  narrative.  The  man  who  travels 
must  learn  the  art  of  taking  hold  of  everything  by  the  right 


THE    TWO    HANDLES.  23 

handle,  or  he  throws  away  his  time  and  money,  and  comes 
back  poorer  than  he  went ;  for  he  has  lost  an  illusion. 

He  who  really  sees  a  thing,  really  possesses  it.  "  To 
see  is  to  have,"  says  the  French  proverb.  The  proprietor 
of  an  estate  may  not  be  its  possessor ;  for  he  may  be  una- 
ble to  see  it.  The  man  who  reaps  the  field  does  not  always 
know  what  mystic  fruit  his  acres  bear ;  what  charm  of  as- 
sociation, what  delights  of  memory,  what  harvest  of  the 
quiet  eye  and  the  brooding  heart,  are  to  be  found  in  them. 
Another  man  pays  thousands  of  dollars  for  a  gallery  of 
paintings,  and  some  boy  or  girl  comes  in,  with  open  mind 
and  poetic  fancy,  and  carries  away  a  treasure  of  beauty 
which  the  owner  never  saw.  We  must  know  how  to  take 
everything  by  the  right  handle. 

I  once  lived  in  a  city  which  was  supremely  and  emi- 
nently ugly  ;  I  ought  to  add  that  it  has  grown  very  pretty 
since.  But  when  I  went  there  the  houses  were  ugly,  the 
streets  were  dirty,  the  horses  were  starved  and  there  was  a 
half-finished  and  slovenly  look  to  everything.  I  suffered 
much  from  the  sight  of  this  deformity.  At  last  it  occurred 
to  me  that  what  was  not  beautiful  might  yet  be  picturesque. 
So  I  ceased  looking  for  beauty,  and  sought  for  pictures. 
Then,  at  once,  all  things  became  interesting.  The  ragged 
negro  boys  munching  their  apples  under  a  cart  made 
groups  like  those  of  Murillo.  A  dirty  and  lean  dog,  sitting 
close  to  a  brick  wall  to  keep  himself  warm  in  the  sunshine, 
became  a  desirable  object  from  an  artistic  point  of  view.  I 
had  found  the  right  handle  by  which  to  take  hold  of  these 
deformities,  and  afterwards  derived  a  certain  satisfaction 
from  their  study.  Then  I  saw  what  was  meant  by  those 
who  say  that  everything  depends  upon  your  point  of  view. 

Why  does  genius  glorify  and  transfigure  all  that  it 
touches  ?  Because  genius  takes  all  facts,  all  events,  by  the 
right  handle.     There  were  heroes  before  Agamemnon,  but 


24  THE   TWO   HANDLES. 

no  man  of  genius  was  there  to  describe  them,  so  they  per- 
ished unknown.  Thousands  had  seen  the  little  country 
churchyard  of  Stoke-Pogis  before  Gray  came,  to  make  it 
immortal.  The  beauties  of  Loch  Lomond,  Loch  Katrine's 
lake  and  isle,  fair  Melrose  and  the  Trosachs  were  there  be- 
fore Scott ;  but  who  saw  them  ?  The  castled-crag  of 
Drachenfels  looked  over  the  wide  and  winding  Rhine, 
and  the  blue-eyed  peasant  girl  offered  early  flowers  to 
the  travellers,  during  hundreds  of  years.  At  last,  Byron 
passed  through  the  valley  and  ?aw  them,  and  now  all  men 
behold  them  through  his  eyes  ai>d  verse.  Many  saw  apples 
falling  before  Newton,  but  no  one  perceived  the  law  of 
gravity  pulling  them  down,  till  he  read  in  that  insignificant 
fact  the  majestic  order  of  the  universe.  In  truth,  to  genius 
no  fact  is  insignificant.  Genius,  like  piety,  calls  nothing 
common  or  unclean. 

When  we  look  upon  life  as  tame  and  commonplace  ;  when 
we  complain  of  our  sphere  as  mean  and  poor ;  when  we 
think  our  home  uninteresting,  our  work  drudgery,  it  is  that 
we  are  tame  and  commonplace  ourselves.  To  a  dull  youth 
it  seems  a  poor  drudgery  to  stay  in  his  country  home,  and 
plough  the  fields ;  but  Robert  Burns  walked  in  glory  and 
in  joy,  following  his  plough  along  the  side  of  the  mountain. 
To  work  at  a  forge,  and  to  hammer  horse  shoes  on  an  an- 
vil, is  stupid  work  to  the  boy  who  thinks  himself  a  genius ; 
but  one  who  is  a  genius,  like  Robert  Collyer,  feeds  his  ima- 
gination with  the  sparks  which  fly  from  his  anvil,  and  learns 
the  secrets  of  nature  from  the  blazing  forge  and  malleable 
iron.  Genius  is  the  power  of  taking  everything  by  the 
right  handle. 

I  have,  in  my  life,  heard  many  young  people  complain 
bitterly  of  their  circumstances,  so  unfavorable  to  the  devel- 
opment of  their  character,  so  unsuitable  to  their  tastes  and 
capacities.      They  should  take  these  things  by   another 


THE   TWO    HANDLES.  2$ 

handle.  If  the  Rhodora  complains  because  its  blossoms 
are  unseen  in  the  lonely  woods,  and  because  its  charms 
are  wasted  on  the  marsh  and  sky ;  Mr.  Emerson  tells  it 
that  if  it  is  beautiful  it  ought  to  be  satisfied  with  that,  for 
that  is  its  ample  excuse  for  being.  Suppose  the  street 
lamps  in  some  outskirt  of  the  city  should  lament  because 
they  cannot  stand  in  the  central  square  where  many  would 
enjoy  their  light ;  you  would  explain  to  them  that  in  light- 
ing up  those  remote  and  lonely  places  they  were  doing  the 
greatest  work  of  all,  and  the  most  necessary.  The  swan  on 
still  St.  Mary's  lake  may  possibly  think  its  merits  unrecog- 
nized ;  it  is  a  misunderstood  swan,  and  has  a  right  to  rail 
against  its  hard  fortune.  But  wait,  swan,  for  Wordsworth 
*is  walking  this  way,  and  directly,  when  he  turns  the  corner, 
he  will  see  you  floating  double,  swan  and  shadow,  and  then 
you  will  become  immortal.  Faithfulness  in  any  place  and 
work  which  God  has  given  us,  where  God  has  placed  us, 
wins  at  last  the  crown  of  rejoicing.  Take  hold  of  it  by  that 
handle.  It  is  my  work  ;  I  am  here  to  do  it.  I  am  a  senti- 
nel at  this  post,  and  the  safety  of  the  whole  army  may  de- 
pend on  my  loyalty  and  truth.  No  one  lives  to  himself  and 
no  man  dies  to  himself.  Every  one  can  learn  and  impart 
some  random  truths  from  the  commonest  things  around 
him,  if  he  has  a  quiet  eye  in  which  to  harvest  them.  Geese 
may  save  the  capital  by  opportune  cries  —  which  is  a  com- 
fort to  geese  everywhere.  We  are  members,  all  of  us,  of  a 
great  body  ;  and  God  himself  watches  us,  day  by  day,  to 
see  whether  we  are  faithful  to  our  task. 

Some  people  cultivate  their  taste  only  on  the  side  which 
is  turned  towards  evil.  Good  taste  is  to  them  the  same  as 
fault-finding  and  fastidiousness.  A  gentleman  was  once 
mentioned  to  Daniel  Webster  as  being  "  a  man  of  very  fine 
tastes."  "  I  think  him  a  man  of  very  fine  distastes," 
replied  Mr.  Webster.     True  taste  consists  in  a  relish  for 


26  THE   TWO   HANDLES. 

good  things  —  in  the  power  which  finds  beauty  everywhere, 
in  the  fine  test  which  detects  its  charming  presence  in  the 
midst  of  the  poorest  environment.  The  best  taste  is  a 
generous  sentiment,  rejoicing  not  in  iniquity,  bearing  all 
things,  and  thinking  no  evil.  It  takes  hold  of  everything 
by  the  handle  of  beauty  and  good,  and  finds  them  in  all 
things. 

In  like  manner  critics  are  of  two  kinds  — those  who  are 
fault-finders,  and  those  who  are  merit-finders.  The  Edin- 
burgh Review  took  for  its  motto  a  Latin  sentence  meaning 
"  The  judge  is  condemned  when  the  guilty  is  acquitted." 
The  idea  of  the  Review  seemed  to  be  to  search  for  crimin- 
als and  punish  them  relentlessly.  Such  criticism,  however, 
is  usually  unjust,  because  it  sees  only  half  of  a  man's  work. 
It  sees  his  failure,  but  is  ignorant  of  his  success.  It  com- 
putes in  part  what  he  has  done  or  failed  to  do,  but  does 
not  know  his  essential  and  inward  excellence.  Destructive 
criticism  is  supercilious,  and  affects  omniscience.  ,It  adopts 
ultramontane  and  priestly  assumptions,  and  puts  on  the 
airs  of  infallibility.  But  productive  criticism  is  modest 
—  it  judges  each  work,  not  by  an  artificial  standard,  but  by 
the  intention  of  the  author.  It  detects  the  soul  of  goodness 
in  things  evil,  and  so  helps  us  by  enlarging  the  boundary 
of  our  likings,  and  enabling  us  to  see  more  good  in  the 
world.  To  condemn  or  acquit  is  easy  ;  but  to  disentangle 
the  threads  of  beauty  and  truth  from  their  enveloping  error, 
requires  a  higher  skill,  and  has  a  more  lasting  reward. 

Christianity  may  be  taken  hold  of  by  the  handle  of  Love, 
or  by  that  of  Fear.  The  Church  has  too  often  taken  hold 
of  it  by  the  handle  of  Fear,  making  God  an  arbitrary  King 
and  Christ  a  Judge,  instead  of  showing  us  God  as  a  Father 
and  Christ  as  a  Friend.  In  the  funereal  papyri  of  Egypt 
there  are  pictures  illustrating  the  judgment  of  each  soul 
before  Osiris.     There  is  a  pair  of  scales  —  in  the  one  are 


THE   TWO    HANDLES.  2J 

put  the  good  deeds  of  the  man,  in  the  other  his  evil  deeds, 
and  his  fate  depends  on  which  scale  is  the  heaviest.  In 
like  manner  hell  and  heaven  are  presented  by  many  Chris- 
tian teachers  as  the  only  alternatives  hereafter.  But  the 
probability  is  that  there,  as  here,  we  may  often  be  in  heaven 
and  in  hell,  too  ;  or  pass  from  hell  to  heaven  as  we  choose 
the  good  and  reject  the  evil.  There,  as  here,  we  may  be 
working  our  way  up  with  occasional  or  frequent  relapses. 
Christians  backslide  here,  —  why  not  there  ?  Who  has  told 
us,  with  authority,  that  the  Eternal  World  may  not  have  its 
varieties  and  alternations,  its  progress  and  its  arrested 
progress,  no  less  than  this  ?  This  is  probable  ;  but  what 
is  certain  is  that  Christianity  was  taught  by  Jesus  and  his 
apostles  as  good  news  ;  that  it  was  a  gospel  of  hope,  not 
of  fear  ;  that  its  primary  announcement  was  not  "  Hell  is 
at  hand,"  but  "  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand  ;  "  that 
Jesus  came  not  as  the  Judge  of  sinners,  but  as  their  Friend  ; 
that  he  did  not  favor  the  self-satisfied  Pharisee,  but  the 
penitent  Publican  ;  that  the  word  which  fell  most  easily 
from  his  lips  was  "  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee  ;  go,  and  sin 
no  more."  What  is  certain  is,  that  the  essential  power  of 
the  gospel  is  in  revealing  a  Father  loving  all  his  children, 
letting  His  sun  shine  on  the  evil  and  the  good,  and  sending 
rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust ;  revealing  a  Father  who 
provides  for  all  his  children,  forgetting  and  neglecting  none. 
It  reveals  a  Father  accepting  our  love  for  each  other  as 
identical  with  love  for  himself,  and  charity  as  one  form  of 
piety.  Does  that  seem  strange  ?  You  are  a  father  or  a 
mother  ;  you  are  obliged  to  go  away  and  leave  your  children 
at  home  alone.  You  come  back  at  night,  and  find  that  the 
oldest  child  has  been  taking  care  of  the  younger  ones  all 
day  long.  Do  you  not  accept  that  brotherly,  sisterly  love 
to  your  little  ones  as  service  done  to  yourself  ?  Do  you 
not  say,  "  Inasmuch  as  you  have  done  i-t  to  the  least  of 


t 


YX^   0?  TBDB 

TJHIVBR 


28  THE   TWO    HANDLES. 

these  you  have  done  it  unto  me  ?  "  And  can  we  serve  God 
better,  or  show  our  love  for  him  more  truly,  than  by  taking 
care  of  his  poor,  his  sick,  his  tempted,  his  sorrowing  chil- 
dren ? 

These,  then,  are  the  two  handles  always  presented  to  us, 
and  every  day,  if  we  listen,  we  shall  hear  God  say  to  us, 
"  Choose  to-day  which  to  take !  "  We  can  take  hold,  in 
everything  which  befalls  us,  of  the  handle  of  doubt,  of 
anxiety,  of  fault-finding,  of  fear ;  of  pleasure,  custom,  expe- 
diency, personal  gratification  and  self-seeking ;  or  we  can 
take  hold  of  the  handle  of  trust,  of  hope,  of  candid  liberal 
judgment,  of  duty,  of  personal  conviction,  of  right,  of 
generous,  self-forgetting  good-will.  Our  days  will  be  sweet 
or  bitter,  events  will  seem  gloomy  or  bright,  the  world  a 
good  world,  or  a  bad  world,  according  as  we  take  every- 
thing by  one  handle  or  the  other.  The  art  of  life  consists 
in  taking  each  event  which  befalls  us  with  a  contented 
mind,  confident  of  good.  This  makes  us  grow  younger  as 
we  grow  older,  for  youth  and  joy  come  from  the  soul  to  the 
body  more  than  from  the  body  to  the  soul.  With  this 
method  and  art  and  temper  of  life,  we  are  well  known  even 
if  unknown  ;  we  live,  though  we  may  be  dying ;  we  rejoice 
always,  though  in  the  midst  of  sorrows,  and  possess  all 
things,  though  destitute  of  everything. 

There  was  once  a  poor  woman  —  a  very  poor  woman  ; 
she  was  a  widow,  and  found  it  hard  to  support  herself  and 
her  children.  One  day,  she  was  going  to  church,  and 
said,  "  There  will  be  a  collection  to-day ;  had  I  better  put 
anything  into  the  box,  or  not  ? "  She  found  she  had  only 
two  cents  that  she  could  spare,  and  she  felt  ashamed  to 
give  so  little.  She  thought  it  would  be  best  to  let  the  rich 
people  give.  But  she  remembered  about  the  little  drops 
of  water  and  the  little  grains  of  sand,  and  so  she  put  her 
two  cents  into  the  box.     She  took  hold  of  that  question  by 


THE   TWO   HANDLES.  20, 

the  right  handle — by  the  handle  of  duty,  not  appearance. 
"It  is  right  for  every  one  to  give  what  he  can,"  said  she. 
It  so  happened  that  Jesus,  with  his  disciples,  was  standing 
near,  and  saw  her  do  it,  and  he  said,  "  She  hath  given 
more  than  all  of  them  ; "  and  because  she  did  her  duty, 
she  had  the  commendation  of  Jesus,^  and  went  into  the 
Scriptures  of  mankind,  famdus  forever,  and  an  example  to 
others  in  all  time.  That  was  because  she  laid  hold  of  the 
handle  of  right,  instead  of  that  of  custom. 

We  are  troubled,  some  of  us,  every  day,  by  the  question, 
"  Shall  I  do  this,  or  not  ?  Shall  I  do  this  thing,  or  an- 
other ?  "  You  will  commonly  find  that  each  of  these  ques- 
tions has  two  handles — the  handle  of  duty,  and  that  of 
pleasure  ;  the  handle  of  right,  and  that  of  expediency  ;  the 
handle  of  gratification,  and  that  of  usefulness  to  others ; 
the  handle  of  custom,  and  that  of  personal  conviction.  All 
depends  on  this  —  on  which  handle  do  we  take  hold.  It 
seems  wise  and  safe  and  prudent  to  do  as  others  do ;  to 
consult  the  probabilities  of  success  or  failure  ;  to  do  what 
all  men  will  approve  ;  to  do  what  we  shall  enjoy  doing 
ourselves.  But  no  one  can  tell,  but  he  who  tries  it,  what 
a  contentment  there  is  when  we  simply  decide  to  do  what 
is  right,  whether  others  will  hear,  or  whether  they  will  for- 
bear ;  what  a  satisfaction  comes  to  those  who  go  the  way 
where  their  own  soul  calls  them,  though  they  go  wholly 
alone  ;  what  peace  there  is  in  the  heart  when  we  have  once 
made  up  our  minds  to  listen  to  the  small  and  still  voice  of 
God  speaking  to  the  conscience  -,  what  ample  compensa- 
tion there  is  when  we  take  life  by  this  handle  —  compen- 
sation in  a  certain  solid  assurance  of  rocky  foundations 
beneath  our  feet. 

Many  of  us  here  may  be  disposed  to  take  our  share 
of  politics.  In  this  country  it  is  every  man's  duty  to  be 
interested  in  politics,  and  to  do  some  work  in  politics.    To 


30  THE   TWO   HANDLES. 

work  effectually,  he  must  usually  belong  to  a  party.  But 
let  him  take  hold  of  this  work  by  the  right  handle.  The 
two  handles  here  are  those  of  profit  and  duty. 

There  are  two  classes  of  politicians.  One  class  makes 
politics  a  trade ;  the  other  makes  it  a  noble  profession,  a 
beautiful  art.  We  have  had  many  men  in  Massachusetts 
who  have  regarded  politics  as  a  serious  religious  work,  to 
be  entered  upon  —  as  the  marriage  service  says  one  ought 
to  enter  marriage  —  "not  lightly,  or  unadvisedly;  but  dis- 
creetly, reverently,  soberly,  and  in  the  fear  of  God."  The 
most  thorough  and  most  successful  politician  we  have  ever 
had  in  this  State  was  John  Quincy  Adams ;  he  took  part 
in  political  life  when  a  mere  boy,  fifteen  years  old,  and 
continued  in  politics  till  he  was  eighty-one.  His  diary,  a 
part  of  which  has  been  published,  shows  that  he  was  actu- 
ated, during  these  years,  by  a  sense  of  obligation  to  God 
and  to  man.  So,  too,  did  Charles  Sumner  become  a  poli- 
tician, not  lightly,  or  unadvisedly,  but  in  the  fear  of  God. 
So  did  John  A.  Andrew,  also,  enter  politics.  These  men 
are  dead,  but  their  fame  is  immortal.  They  were  followed 
to  their  sacred  graves  by  a  nation,  grateful  for  their  virtues, 
hardly  consolable  for  their  loss.  They  were  often  misun- 
derstood in  their  lives,  often  opposed,  and  bitterly  cen- 
sured ;  but  they  knew  they  were  right,  and  knew  that  the 
people  would  know  it  too,  sooner  or  later.  For  the  people, 
at  last,  know  their  true  friends  ;  the  people,  at  last,  honor 
goodness,  manliness,  truth,  more  than  they  honor  success- 
ful trickery,  or  smartness,  or  cunning.  These  men  took 
hold  of  politics  by  the  right  handle,  by  a  solemn  sense  of 
duty,  and  their  memory  is  immortal. 

But  we  have  seen,  in  these  last  years,  a  different  class 
of  politicians  —  trading  politicians  —  men  who  care  nothing 
for  the  good  of  the  country,  but  only  for  personal  success  ; 
men  who  think  the  nation  is  for  the  sake  of  office  seekers 


THE   TWO    HANDLES.  3 1 

and  office  holders,  not  office  holders  for  the  sake  of  the 
nation.  They  buy  votes,  and  bribe  electors  ;  they  go  to 
Congress  to  make  money  out  of  jobs  ;  they  belong  to  rings, 
who  rob  the  people  and  fill  their  own  purses,  who  steal 
their  millions  and  govern  great  cities  as  they  please.  We 
have  seen  these  men  shine  as  stars  in  the  sky,  have  every- 
thing in  their  own  hands,  rewarding  their  friends  and  punish- 
ing their  enemies.  Where  are  they  now  ?  One  has  been 
murdered  in  consequence  of  his  debaucheries  ;  one  was  in 
the  New  York  Penitentiary,  and  escaped,  and  has  been  re- 
taken ;  some  of  them,  who  yesterday  ruled  the  world,  to- 
day have  fallen,  like  Lucifer,  and  none  so  poor  as  to  do 
them  reverence.  "  I  have  seen  the  wicked  in  power,  and 
flourishing  like  a  green  bay-tree ;  I  went  by,  and  lo !  he 
was  gone,  and  his  place  could  no  more  be  found."  Take 
politics  by  the  right  handle,  and  your  course  shall  be  ever 
onward,  shining  more  and  more  to  the  perfect  day  ;  take 
it  by  the  wrong  handle,  and,  "  living,  you  shall  forfeit  fair 
renown, 

"  And,  doubly  dying,  shall  go  down 
To  the  vile  dust  from  whence  you  sprung, 
Unwept,  unhonored,  and  unsung." 

Every  to-morrow  has  two  handles  as  we  go  to  meet  it  — 
the  handle  of  anxiety,  and  that  of  trust.  Pagan  and  Chris- 
tian wisdom  agree  in  teaching  us  that  we  ought  not  to  be 
anxious.  "As  to  what  the  morrow  may  bring,  do  not 
trouble  yourself,"  says  Horace.  "  Let  the  morrow  take 
thought  for  the  things  of  itself,"  says  Jesus.  And  yet  we 
allow  our  days  to  be  spent  in  anxious  thoughts,  our  hearts 
to  be  corroded  with  care,  all  the  joys  of  life  turned  to  gloom, 
all  its  sunshine  shaded  by  this  anxiety.  How  shall  we 
live  ?  How  shall  we  provide  for  our  children  ?  How  shall 
we  meet  our  engagements  ?     And  then,  to  these  anxieties, 


32  THE   TWO   HANDLES. 

we  add  others  about  our  soul ;  and  the  Church  teaches  us 
to  be  anxious  about  the  other  world,  in  addition  to  our 
anxieties  about  this.  And  so  black  Care  rides  behind  the 
horseman,  and  modern  civilization  seems  darkened  more 
than  ever  before  by  these  gloomy  shadows  thrown  up  from 
below  the  horizon  by  the  clouds  which  hang  above  the 
setting  or  rising  sun. 

But  "consider  the  lilies,  how  they  grow;"  "consider 
the  birds,  how  they  build  their  nests ; "  consider  the  Indian 
in  his  wigwam,  the  Arab  in  his  tent.  How  little  we  really 
need  of  all  these  supposed  necessities  of  civilization  !  You 
go  from  homes  full  of  various  comfort  and  ornament,  and 
spend  a  month  in  the  Adirondack  woods,  sleeping  on  a 
bed  of  spruce  boughs,  eating  trout  from  the  lake  and  mush 
from  the  pan,  and  you  say,  "  This  is  true  life  ;  I  never 
knew  what  it  was  to  live  before."  Now  you  are  taking  life 
by  the  right  handle,  cutting  down  your  necessaries  to  the 
lowest  mark,  and  then  having  the  luxuries  of  sky  and  lake, 
forest  and  waterfall,  peaceful  days,  and  sweet  sleep  in  the 
open  air  ;  yet  you  come  home  and  forget  all  this  experience, 
and  calmly  resume  the  whole  burden  of  anxiety,  and  become 
the  slaves  of  routine,  of  housekeeping,  of  living  in  a  cer- 
tain style  in  which  other  people  live  ;  and  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  goes  for  nothing. 

Consider  the  lilies,  how  they  grow!  Consider  the  day- 
laborer  coming  from  his  work  at  night.  He  has  no  stocks, 
no  real-estate,  nothing  to  fall  back  on — nothing,  but  God. 
He  has  his  two  dollars  a  day,  and  if  he  falls  sick  it  stops. 
But  he  is  not  anxious,  because  he  has  nothing  between 
himself  and  Divine  Providence.  He  has  always  got  along, 
has  always  been  taken  care  of,  and  so  he  expects  to  be. 
He  is  not  tormented  by  fears  as  to  what  the  morrow  may 
bring  forth  in  State  Street,  or  the  probable  condition  of  the 
money  market ;  he  cares  nothing  about  inflation,  he  takes 


THE   TWO    HANDLES.  33 

no  thought  of  high  taxes.  He  lives  from  day  to  day  as 
the  little  child  lives.  The  child  has  nothing  to  rely  upon 
but  its  father  and  mother.  So  this  working  woman,  this 
laboring  man,  has  nothing  to  rely  upon  but  Providence  ;  yet 
that  seems  enough. 

Every  sorrow,  calamity,  disappointment,  comes  to  us 
with  two  handles  —  if  we  take  hold  of,  one,  we  can  bear  it ; 
if  we  take  the  other,  it  is  intolerable. 

You  have  lost  a  dear  friend  —  one  in  whose  life  you  lived, 
and  apart  from  whom  life  seemed  not  worth  living.  The 
child,  in  whose  future  you  placed  your  own  hopes,  is  gone ; 
what  hope  is  left  you  now  ?  Cling  to  this  handle  of  irre- 
parable loss,  and  your  life  is  blighted.  You  walk  sorrow- 
ing all  your  days.  You  are  of  no  use  to  others  or  your- 
self. 

Suppose,  then,  you  look  at  the  event  differently.  Your 
friend  has  left  you,  but  who  gave  him  to  you  ?  Was  it 
not  God  from  whose  gift  this  joy  of  your  life  came  ?  Is 
he  not  the  perpetual  giver,  and  have  not  all  these  years 
taught  you  to  place  some  trust  in  him  ?  Poes  not  he 
love  his  child  as  well  as  you  do  ? 

3 


IV. 

THE  NEAREST  DUTY. 
"  Whatsoever  thy  hand  finds  to  do,  do  it  with  thy 

MI  GHT." 

f 

DO  the  duty  which  lies  nearest  to  thee!"  So  said 
Carlyle,  following  Goethe.  When  he  said  it,  years 
ago,  it  seemed  to  many  of  us  like  a  new  revelation,  an 
eleventh  commandment  —  come  to  make  many  things  clear 
that  before  were  dark  and  vague  enough. 

And,  certainly,  it  is  a  very  important  maxim.  It  is  a 
good  thing  for  us  all  to  be  fastened  to  a  chain  of  daily 
duties ;  not  to  have  to  decide  afresh,  at  every  moment, 
what  to  do,  but  to  have  the  hour  decide  for  us  when  it 
comes.  This  chain  of  duties,  which  we  often  complain  of 
so  much,  and  wish  to  be  emancipated  from,  keeps  mind 
and  body  in  health  and  peace.  The  man  and  woman  may 
be  accounted  happy  who  have  regular  work  to  do,  to  which 
each  hour  of  the  day  invites  them  ;  work  which  is  useful  to 
others  and  themselves ;  work  not  involving  anxiety,  but, 
rather,  relieving  it.  We  are  not  anxious  when  we  are  at 
work,  but  when  we  are  not  at  work.  To  have  something 
to  do  for  a  sick  friend  takes  iway  a  little  of  the  burden  of 
anxiety  concerning  him. 

This  chain  of  daily  habit,  therefore,  is  a  most  excellent 
gift  to  us  all.  No  one  can  dispense  with  it.  To  have  to 
get  up  in  the  morning  at  a  fixed  hour  ;  to  dress  ;  to  break- 
fast j  to  be  needed  and  expected  in  certain  places  during  a 


THE   NEAREST   DUTY.  35 

good  part  of  the  day  ;  and,  besides  the  work,  to  have  some 
regular  study,  some  regular  reading,  some  special  pursuit 
—  scientific,  artistic,  philanthropic,  social ;  this  regular 
course  of  events  in  our  lives  helps  us  along,  prevents  stag- 
nation, keeps  away  the  fiend  of  uncertainty  and  indecision 
which  harries  the  life  of  the  unoccupied  person,  who, 
because  he  can  do  what  he  pleases,  is  very  apt  not  to  be 
pleased  with  doing  anything. 

We  often  complain  of  these  conventional  and  common 
duties  ;  but  much  mental,  moral  and  physical  health  comes 
out  of  them.  The  first  demand  we  make  on  work  is  that 
it  shall  be  regular,  not  spasmodic  ;  habitual,  not  occasional ; 
something  which  does  not  require  new  efforts  of  will,  but 
which  we  are  led  to  do  by  the  expectations  of  others,  the 
requirements  of  circumstances,  the  conventions  of  society, 
the  tacit  understanding  which  people  have  with  each  other 
not  to  leave  the  highway  of  custom  except  for  some  good 
reason. 

The  nearest  duties,  then,  are,  first,  the  regular  and  cus- 
tomary duties  of  our  life.  This  makes  the  rule  ;  but  there 
are  exceptions  to  every  rule,  and  important  exceptions  to 
this. 

While  we  ought,  all  of  us,  to  begin  with  the  duties  which 
come  to  us,  and  are  laid  upon  us  by  circumstances  and  the 
recurrent  necessities  of  life,  it  does  not  follow  that  we  are 
to  remain  there  always. 

The  nearest  duty  may  take  another  form,  and  become 
that  nearest  to  our  ability,  that  which  we  are  the  most  fit 
to  do.  The  nearest  duty  may  be  that  "  which  our  hand 
finds  to  do,"  not  that  which  is  found  for  it.  To  find  any- 
thing, usually  implies  some  independent  looking,  not  mere 
passive  reception.  A  duty  which  finds  us  may  not  be  that 
which  we  find,  and  so  not  the  nearest. 

The  customary  routine  of  life  is  an  excellent  support,  a 


36  THE   NEAREST    DUTY. 

good  thing  to  lean  upon  ;  but  we  must  not  be  enslaved  by- 
it.  No  one  can  dispense  with  routine,  but  we  must  some- 
times rise  above  it. 

The  danger  in  this  maxim  is  that  it  may  lead  to  narrow- 
ness, keeping  us  in  a  little  rut  where  we  only  plod  along, 
caring  for  no  one  outside  of  our  own  small  circle,  taking 
no  interest  in  the  concerns  of  humanity  around  us.  How 
many  families  there  are  in  Boston,  to-day,  who  do  nothing, 
from  January  to  December,  for  any  persons  outside  of 
themselves  !  Yet  they  are  doing  with  their  might  what 
their  hand  finds  to  do — only  it  all  concerns  themselves, 
their  own  children,  their  own  kindred,  their  own  friends. 
They  are  very  respectable,  very  worthy  people,  but  pro- 
foundly indifferent  to  all  that  concerns  the  happiness  of 
others,  here  or  hereafter,  who  do  not  belong  to  their  own 
little  circle. 

Now,  if  Christianity  consists  in  following  Christ  and  imi- 
tating him,  it  is  evident  that  such  as  these  are  not  Chris- 
tians. They  may  be  very  good  people,  but  their  goodness 
is  not  Christian  goodness,  for  Christ  "  went  about  doing 
good,"  and  they  do  no  good,  except  at  home.  Christ  tells 
us  to  love  our  neighbors  as  ourselves,  and  in  the  parable  of 
the  Good  Samaritan  he  teaches  us  that  our  neighbor  is 
every  man  who  needs  our  help,  and  whom  we  are  able 
to  aid. 

When  the  Samaritan  saw  the  wounded  man  lying  by  the 
wayside,  he  might  have  thought  his  nearest  duty  was  to 
himself  and  to  his  own  family  ;  that  the  robbers  might  re- 
turn, and,  if  he  stopped  to  help  the  Jew,  he  might  lose  his 
own  life.  "  My  nearest  duty  is  to  get  home  as  soon  as  I 
can,"  so  he  might  have  said  ;  "  I  ought  to  take  care  of  my- 
self, and  not  risk  my  life  for  this  Jew,  who  is  one  of  the 
enemies  of  my  people."  But  he  did  not  reason  this  way. 
He  believed  it  his  nearest  duty  to  help  every  one  he  was 


THE   NEAREST   DUTY.  37 

able  to  assist,  whoever  it  might  be ;  and  he  counted  this 
stranger,  though  of  another  race,  and  of  an  alien  religion, 
as  his  neighbor. 

There  are  times  when  our  nearest  duty  is  not  to  our- 
selves, nor  to  our  family  ;  times  when  we  must,  like  Abra- 
ham, go  out  from  our  own  city  and  country.  The  nearest 
duty  of  some  persons  may  be  to  serve  as  missionaries  to 
the  Chinese  or  the  Hindoos  ;  the  nearest  duty  of  others,  to 
visit  the  prisoners,  or  to  console  the  sufferers  not  of  their 
own  house  or  kindred.  No  one  lives  to  himself,  and  no  one 
dies  to  himself.  The  great  power  by  which  Christianity 
redeems  the  world  is  by  making  us  see  that  our  neighbor 
is  the  suffering  man,  the  needing  man,  though  as  far  off  as 
degrees  of  latitude  and  longitude  can  place  him. 

When  a  young  girl,  a  peasant  and  shepherdess  on  the 
eastern  frontier  of  France,  left  her  quiet  fields,  her  silly 
sheep,  her  humble  daily  avocation,  to  encounter  the  dangers 
of  war  in  order  to  lead  the  armies  of  her  prince  to  victory, 
that  was  her  nearest  duty.  When,  four  centuries  later,  a 
young  man,  a  student  in  Paris,  determined  to  go  to  India 
to  find  the  scriptures  of  a  dead  religion,  and  translate  them, 
that  was  his  nearest  duty.  The  nearest  duty  of  Socrates 
was  to  spend  his  life  in  showing  pretenders  to  knowledge 
how  ignorant  they  really  were.  The  nearest  duty  of  Lin- 
neus  was  to  study  the  Flora  of  the  world.  The  inventor 
leaves  his  routine  of  work,  and  spends  days,  months,  years, 
in  baffled  efforts  to  put  into  visible  form  some  idea  of  his 
brain.  If  he  succeeds,  at  last,  men  admit  that  this  was  his 
nearest  duty.  Others  besides  Socrates  have  their  demon, 
who  tells  them  to  scorn  delights  and.  live  laborious  days 
in  doing  what  seems,  at  the  time,  folly  to  those  around 
them.  ^ 

The  nearest  duty,  then,  may  be  that  which  is  not  nearest 
in  space  or  time,  but  that  which  is  nearest  to  the  heart  and 


38  THE    NEAREST   DUTY. 

soul.  When  the  woman  in  the  Scripture  left  her  domestic 
duties,  and  took  her  alabaster  box  of  ointment,  and  went 
to  anoint  the  feet  of  Jesus,  that  was  her  nearest  duty. 
When  Dr.  Howe  left  his  land  to  go  and  fight  for  Greece, 
that  was  his  nearest  duty.  When  Florence  Nightingale 
left  her  happy  home  in  England  to  nurse  soldiers  in  the 
Crimea,  that  was  her  nearest  duty.  The  demon  in  the  soul, 
the  divine  voice  within,  calls  us  to  our  work ;  the  new  oc- 
casions teach  new  duties,  and  so  the  prophet  goes  to  his 
mission — goes,  perhaps,  reluctantly,  in  the  heat  and  bitter- 
ness of  his  spirit,  but  the  hand  of  the  Lord  is  on  him,  and 
he  is  obliged  to  go. 

Most  of  us  are  not  called  to  be  prophets  or  missionaries, 
martyrs  to  the  truth,  or  leaders  in  a  forlorn  hope.  But  we 
are  all  of  us  called  to  take  an  interest  in  something  outside 
of  our  own  private  business  and  family  affairs.  Charity  be- 
gins at  home,  but,  if  it  ends  at  home,  it  is  not  charity,  but 
selfishness. 

How  many  noble  enterprises  there  are  in  this  commu- 
nity to  which  men  and  women  are  devoting  time,  thought, 
strength,  heart,  life,  and  only  ask  of  us  a  little  sympathy 
and  a  little  aid  !  Some  labor  for  the  poor ;  some  for  the 
children  who  have  no  homes  nor  friends ;  some  for  those 
who  have  fallen  into  temptation,  but  are  not  depraved  ; 
some  for  the  poor  animals,  mute  sufferers,  unable  to  com- 
plain of  their  wrongs ;  some  for  neglected  infants  ;  some 
for  aged  people  left  alone^n  the  world ;  some  for  young 
men,  thrown  amid  the  risks  of  a  great  city.  All  they  ask 
of  us  is  to  help  them  in  their  work,  give  them  a  little  sym- 
pathy, a  little  aid  ;  but  how  many  of  us  think  it  rather  an 
impertinence  in  them  to  ask,  and  believe  that  on  the  whole, 
we  are  not  our  brother's  keeper  !  "  No  !  we  must  attend 
to  nearer  duties.  We  have  bought  five  yoke  of  oxen  and 
must  go  to  prove  them.     We  have  built  a  house,  and  are 


THE    NEAREST    DUTY.  39 

rather  short  of  means  this  year  to  help  your  society.  We 
have  had  a  great  many  calls  lately,  and  have  relatives  who 
depend  upon  us.  We  doubt  the  use  of  these  philanthropies  ; 
would  it  not  be  better  to  do  it  in  some  other  way  ?  If  these 
people  are  helped  now,  they  will  have  to  be  helped  again  ; 
there  is  no  end  to  it."  A  man  whom  I  once  asked  to  con- 
tribute to  missionary  work  told  me  he  thought  that  until 
people  asked  for  truth  it  did  no  good  to  send  it.  I  told 
him  it  seemed  to  me  fortunate  for  us  that  Christ  and  his 
apostles  did  not  agree  with  him  in  this  opinion.  Another 
man  used  to  say  that  he  did  not  like  to  interfere  between 
Providence  and  the  man  who  was  suffering  in  consequence 
of  his  own  faults  or  defects.  I  asked  him  if  my  coming  to 
him  might  not  possibly  be  a  call  of  Providence,  also.  But 
those  who  argue  in  this  way  are  great  advocates  for  doing 
the  nearest  duty,  and  for  doing  nothing  else. 

But  the  Lord  never  meant  that  we  should  make  of  our 
immediate  and  daily  work  prison  walls  to  shut  ourselves  in, 
so  as  to  take  no  part  in  the  vast  interests  of  humanity. 
Every  man  stands  under  an  arch  of  heaven,  infinite  in 
extent,  with  the  constellations  of  the  universe  lighting  their 
solemn  fires  above  him  every  night,  and  the  unwearied  sun 
marching  over  his  head  every  day.  Once  in  every  twenty- 
four  hours  the  earth  carries  us  wholly  round  so  as  to  face 
the  entire  universe.  We  all  belong  to  the  whole  of  God's 
world,  and  nothing  which  concerns  it  ought  to  find  us 
indifferent.  When  we  walk  in  the  woods,  the  sweet  breath 
of  the  ferns  takes  us  back  to  past  geologic  ages  ;  the 
fragrant  breath  of  the  firs  and  pines  recall  the  Psalms  of 
David  and  the  Hymns  of  the  Vedas.  "  Over  us  soars  the 
eternal  sky,  full  of  light  and  of  Deity."  It  is  not  meant 
that  we  should  live  to  ourselves,  but  we  are  all  called  on 
to  live  for  every  truth,  every  human  interest,  every  human 
need,  as  the  Lord  sends  them  to  us  or  sends  us  to  them. 


40  THE    NEAREST   DUTY. 

Then  the  nearest  duty  may  sometimes  be  to  ourselves, 
to  make  ourselves  fit  and  able  to  be  of  use  to  others. 

Before  the  mechanic  begins  his  work,  no  matter  how 
important  it  is,  his  first  duty  is  to  sharpen  his  tools  and  put 
them  in  order.  So  it  may  be  our  first  duty  to  put  our  body 
and  mind  in  order  before  we  begin  any  other  duty,  however 
necessary.  We  often  say  we  have  no  time  to  rest,  no  time 
for  recreation,  no  time  for  reading,  no  time  for  outside 
interests,  no  time  for  church  work ;  our  business  is  so 
pressing,  we  have  so  much  to  do.  Men  refuse  to  give 
themselves  a  little  relaxation,  and  so  they  break  down  at 
last,  and  then  can  do  no  work  for  months  or  years.  A 
stitch  in  time  saves  nine  ;  a  little  rest  or  recreation  taken 
in  season  may  save  years  of  the  enforced  idleness  of  the 
invalid.  I  once  was  in  northwest  Wisconsin,  taking  my 
summer  vacation  with  my  brothers  on  a  great  wheat  farm. 
Coming  away,  I  passed  a  Sunday  in  a  little  town  on  the 
upper  Mississippi,  and  went  to  a  Presbyterian  church. 
The  minister  preached  on  "  Recreation,"  and  said  that  he 
had  known  cases  of  men  who  came  to  him  gloomy  and 
anxious  about  their  souls,  and  he  found  the  difficulty  was 
not  in  their  souls,  but  their  bodies,  and  so,  instead  of  telling 
them  to  read  the  Bible,  he  advised  them  to  take  exercise 
and  recreation.  That  was  their  nearest  duty  —  to  put  their 
body  in  order,  and  then  they  could  attend  to  their  souls. 

My  Presbyterian  minister  was  a  wise  man.  But  some- 
times it  is  the  soul  which  needs  to  be  put  in  order  before 
we  can  do  any  duty  as  we  ought.  If  the  soul  is  sick,  we 
shall  put  no  heart  into  anything  we  do.  To  finish  any  work 
well,  we  must  have  faith,  courage,  confidence,  and  be  able 
to  put  our  heart  into  it.  But  if  the  heart  is  cold  and  dead, 
we  shall  do  everything  in  a  cold  and  dead  way.  The 
nearest  duty,  therefore,  way  be  to  let  alone  all  other  duties, 
and  to  take  care  of  our  mind,  our  heart  and  our  soul.     To 


THE    NEAREST    DUTY.  4 1 

come  into  the  presence  of  God,  to  give  ourselves  up  to  him, 
to  begin  a  new  life  of  obedience,  faith,  submission,  patience, 
hope,  this  may  be  our  nearest  duty. 

When  I  was  in  the  Divinity  School,  I  bought  the  com- 
plete works  of  Goethe  in  forty  volumes,  and  put  them  on 
my  table.  I  had  not  much  money,  and  it  was  a  pretty  large 
expense  to  me.  One  of  my  friends  came  into  the  room  and 
saw  these  books,  and  said,  "  What  in  the  world  have  you 
bought  these  books  for  ?  How  will  Goethe  help  you  to 
study  theology  ?  "  I  replied,  "  In  order  to  study  theology 
or  anything  else,  we  must  have  our  mind  wide  awake  and 
full  of  interest  in  all  intellectual  matters.  I  find  that  the 
study  of  Goethe  makes  my  mind  more  wide  awake,  and 
gives  me  more  power  to  study  everything  else."  And  he 
was  so  candid  that  he  admitted  I  might  be  right,  and  feel- 
ing the  need  of  something  to  rouse  his  mind,  he  procured 
a  volume  of  "  Fichte,"  of  the  most  difficult  sort  of  meta- 
physics, and  studied  it  diligently,  and  afterwards  declared 
that  it  did  him  more  good  than  any  other  book  he  had  read 
in  the  school.  To  read  Goethe  and  Fichte  would  not  seem 
to  be  the  nearest  duty  for  theological  students,  but  to  us  it 
was  so.  » 

If  a  mechanic  must  get  his  tools  in  order  before  he  can 
work  well,  much  more  must  the  delicate  and  subtle  organs 
of  the  soul  be  put  in  right  condition  before  anything  else 
can  be  well  done.  For  this  purpose,  we  must  sometimes 
leave,  for  a  time,  routine  and  -the  narrow  rut  of  life,  to  re- 
fresh and  quicken  the  soul  to  new  life  and  power. 

It  is  often  assumed  that  the  sphere  of  woman  is  home, 
and  home  only.  She  is  to  stay  at  home  and  attend  to 
housekeeping  and  the  dinner — the  care  of  the  children,  and 
oversight  of  the  domestic  work.  But  to  do  these  well,  she 
ought  to  do  something  more  than  these.  Man  shall  go 
forth  to  his  work  and  labor  until  the  evening,  seeing  a  va- 


42  THE   NEAREST    DUTY. 

riety  of  people,  hearing  many  new  things,  bathing  in  the 
current  of  life.  But  woman  needs  refreshment,  too.  If 
man  needs  his  club,  why  should  not  she  have  hers  ? 

In  a  rude  society  women  did  all  the  indoor  work,  and 
man  the  outdoor  work.  She  was  the  cook,  and  nurse,  and 
the  tailor  —  he  the  hunter,  the  woodman  and  laborer  out  of 
doors.  Now,  he  delegates  to  others  the  digging,  hunting, 
ploughing,  and  becomes  physician,  editor,  merchant,  me- 
chanic or  minister.  If  she  has  the  ability  for  it,  why  should 
she  not  do  the  same  ?  At  all  events,  to  keep  house  well, 
she  must  have  the  stimulus  of  other  occupations  to  sharpen 
the  delicate  tools  of  thought  and  feeling  with  which  both 
men  and  women  work. 

The  highest  work  that  we  can  do  is  that  which  we  ought 
to  do,  because  there  are  fewer  able  to  do  this  higher  sort 
of  work  than  the  lower.  If  a  man  or  a  woman  can  do  pri- 
mary work,  they  ought  not  to  do  secondary.  A  good  me- 
chanic ought  not  to  spend  his  time  in  breaking  stones  on 
the  road  if  he  can  get  work  to  do  in  his  own  trade.  A  man 
or  a  woman  who  is  able  to  teach,  or  to  practise  medicine, 
or  to  practise  law,  or  to  preach,  or  is  skilful  in  any  art, 
should  not  do  mere  manual  labor,  but  let  others  do  that  for 
him.  I  do  not  see  why  this  law  does  not  apply  to  women 
just  as  much  as  to  men.  The  tools  to  those  who  can  use 
them.  The  highest  work  we  can  do  well,  and  have  an  op- 
portunity of  doing  —  that  is  the  nearest  duty.  Whatever  thy 
hand  finds  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might.  Work  done  in  a  half- 
and-half  way — in  a  slovenly,  inefficient  way — is  a  wretched 
business.  How  much  work  is  done  in  that  way !  How 
little  thoroughly  good  work  is  done  !  The  great  artist  told 
his  pupils  to  mix  their  colors  with  brains.  The  reason  of 
so  much  poor  work  is  that  so  little  thought  is  put  into  it. 
It  is  mere  routine.  General  culture  is  necessary  to  do  any- 
thing well.     I  mean  that  anything  which  makes  the  mind 


THE   NEAREST   DUTY.  43 

active,  free,  large,  vigorous,  helps  us  to  do  well  the  small- 
est matters.  Give  your  children  all  the  education  you  can, 
no  matter  what  they  are  to  be.  No  real  knowledge,  no 
real  thinking,  ever  comes  amiss.  It  helps  us  to  do  things 
with  all  our  might,  and  that  is  the  only  way  to  do  them 
well. 

A  thing  not  done  with  our  might  is  not  worth  doing  at 
all.  Slovenly  work  is  bad  for  the  doer  and  the  thing  done. 
But  to  do  things  with  our  might,  we  must  have  might  to  do 
them  with.  Therefore  we  must  cultivate  might.  And  to 
do  things  mightily,  we  must  do  them  thoughtfully,  do  them 
heartily,  and  do  them  prayerfully.  Thought,  heart,  and 
prayer  feed  the  roots  of  the  soul,  and  give  it  strength. 
Thought  put  into  work  makes  it  interesting,  turns  it  into 
art,  gives  to  it  the  joy  of  accomplishment.  We  can  work 
heartily  when  we  see  the  meaning  of  our  work,  the  value 
of  it,  the  good  of  it.  When  we  do  our  work  not  for  our- 
selves only,  selfishly,  but  for  others  also,  then  we  do  it 
cheerfully  and  happily.  But  to  do  work  with  our  might  we 
should  do  it  prayerfully.  I  do  not  mean  that  we  should 
say  formal  prayers  over  it.  But  to  have  the  conviction  that 
God  is  with  us  —  that  we  are  working  for  him  when  we 
work  for  ourselves  or  others  —  and  so  to  keep  the  channel 
of  communication  open  upward,  for  inspiration  to  come  to 
us  —  this  gives  great  might  and  efficiency  to  work.  Usu- 
ally men  have  sought  this  divine  inspiration  only  for  what 
is  called  religious  work,  and  have  supposed  that  it  came  by 
some  miraculous  answer  or  special  intervention.  But  we 
need  inspiration  just  as  much  for  the  commonest  duties  of 
life  as  for  preaching  the  gospel.  To  have  the  right  spirit 
in  our  common  talk  we  need  some  inspiration  —  to  have 
the  right  spirit  in  our  daily  dealings  with  our  fellow-men 
we  need  it.  We  need  this  spirit  in  the  parlor,  the  kitchen 
'and  the  shop  just  as  much  as  in  the  church —  and  we  can 


44  THE   NEAREST    DUTY. 

have  it  in  all  of  them.  For  just  as  the  river  flows  and  flows 
unceasingly,  when  there  is  an  open  channel,  so  the  spirit 
of  God  flows  into  human  hearts  by  a  continuous  unending 
current,  when  we  have  the  channel  open.  Trust  in  God 
and  a  desire  to  do  what  is  right  —  this  makes  the  channel 
from  the  soul  up  to  heaven.  But,  at  all  events,  let  us  all  do 
something,  and  do  it  with  our  might.  Let  us  not  think  any 
honest  work  degrading.  The  lowest  work  done  in  a  good 
spirit  elevates  us  —  the  highest  work  done  in  a  bad  spirit 
degrades  us.  I  call  the  preacher's  work  degrading  when 
he  preaches  from  vanity,  or  without  truth  and  love  in  his 
words.  I  call  the  work  of  a  President  or  a  member  of, 
Congress  degrading,  when  either  of  them  is  the  slave  of  a 
party.  If  one  is  eloquent  as  an  angel,  and  has  no  love  in 
his  voice,  the  sound  is  as  hollow  as  that  of  a  drum,  and  he 
degrades  himself  by  his  speech.  A  man  may  be  a  popular 
poet  or  novelist — and  his  books  reach  twenty  editions  — 
but  if  he  panders  to  low  appetites,  prejudices  and  passions, 
his  work  is  degrading.  But  let  one  sweep  a  room  for  the 
love  of  God,  or  cook  a  dinner  for  the  love  of  man,  then  his 
work  is  heavenly  work,  and  raises  him  towards  God. 

From  scheme  and  creed  the  light  goes  out  — 

The  saintly  fact  survives  ; 
The  blessed  Master  none  can  doubt, 

Revealed  in  saintly  lives. 


V. 

HOW  TO  CHANGE  TIME  INTO  LIFE. 

WI  AM  COME  THAT  THEY  MIGHT  HAVE  LIFE;  AND  THAT  THEY  MIGHT 
HAVE  IT  MORE  ABUNDANTLY." 

THE  purpose  for  which  we  exist  is  to  turn  time  into  life. 
A  regular  allowance  of  time  is  given  to  men  —  the 
same  ration,  every  day,  of  twenty-four  hours  to  each  of  us  ; 
then  we  are  to  see  what  we  can  make  of  it.  How  much 
can  we  get  of  real  life  out  of  each  day,  so  that  when  the 
day  is  gone  it  will  leave  us  so  much  more  alive  than  we 
were  before.  Some  men  continue  to  increase  in  the 
amount  they  have  of  mental,  moral,  spiritual  life  and  ener- 
gy, as  long  as  they  remain  here.  While  the  body  is  grow- 
ing old,  mind  and  heart  are  growing  young  ;  while  the  out- 
ward man  perishes,  the  inward  man  is  being  renewed  day 
by  day. 

This  is  the  real  alchemy,  the  true  ( philosopher's  stone 
which  can  turn  baser  metals  into  gold.  Time  has  no  value 
in  itself  ;  it  is  a  base  metal ;  its  only  value  is  in  our  ability 
to  transmute  it  into  something  valuable.  Time  cannot  be 
kept ;  it  slips  through  our  fingers  forever  ;  but  while  it  is 
passing  through  them  we  may  be  able  to  change  it  into 
something  which  will  last  always,  that  is,  immortal  or  un- 
dying life  —  or  what  the  Scriptures  call  eternal  life.  For 
immortal  life,  eternal  life,  simply  means  that  kind  of  life 

which  does  not  decay  and  change ;  not  future  existence, 

(45) 


46  HOW    TO    CHANGE   TIME   INTO   LIFE. 

but  present  fulness  of  being.  Bodily  life  decays  with  years ; 
physical  life  is  liable  to  disease  ;  our  bodies  grow  old  and 
die ;  but  all  of  immortal  life  we  have  within  us  will  last 
unchanged,  never  growing  old,  never  wearing  out,  never 
losing  its  first  freshness,  light  and  power.  Our  business  is 
to  change  the  bodily  existence,  measured  by  time,  into 
spiritual  existence,  belonging  to  eternity. 

For  there  are  some  conditions  and  states  of  soul  which 
take  us  directly  out  of  time  into  eternity.  There  are  often 
moments  in  life  when  time  disappears,  moments  in  which 
a  whole  world  of  thought,  love,  purpose  are  concentrated, 
so  that  we  live  a  great  deal  in  a  few  seconds.  There  is  no 
telling,  therefore,  how  much  existence  may  be  collected 
into  a  few  such  burning  moments,  when  the  light  of  years 
is  collected  into  a  luminous  focus,  and  the  picture  of  a 
large  existence  is  brought  to  a  point.  Add  together  all 
such  experiences  in  our  past  days,  and  they  would  occupy, 
perhaps,  only  half  a  dozen  hours  of  time  ;  but,  then,  these 
hours  would  have  more  real  life  in  them  than  all  our  barren 
years  of  routine,  languor,  inertia,  doubt,  fear,  all  put  togeth- 
er. I  say,  therefore,  again,  that  the  great  object  of  exist- 
ence is  to  change  time  into  life ;  to  transform  bodily  ex- 
istence, measured  by  the  clock,  into  spiritual  existence, 
measured  by  experiences  of  soul. 

How,  then,  is  this  to  be  done  ?  It  is  by  taking  interest ' 
in  things,  in  nature,  in  events,  in  persons,  in  truth.  Those 
who  are  interested  in  anything  live  ;  those  who  are  interest- 
ed in  important  things  have  the  most  life  —  have  it  abund- 
antly ;  those  who  are  not  interested  in  anything  are  virtu- 
ally dead  ;  those  who  are  interested  only  in  superficial 
things,  in  vanity  and  temporary  affairs,  are  only  half  alive. 
As  the  apostle  says,  "  She  who  liveth  for  pleasure  is  dead 
while  she  liveth." 

We  all   of  us   have  our   dead  hours  ;  hours  in  which 


HOW   TO   CHANGE   TIME    INTO   LIFE.  47 

we  are  really  dead ;  in  which  nothing  interests  us  ;  in 
which  we  turn  languidly  from  work  to  play,  and  return 
languidly  from  play  to  work  ;  in  which  "  man  delights  not 
us,  nor  woman  neither ;  "  morbid,  sickly,  wretched  hours, 
in  which  time  passes  and  brings  no  life  with  it.  We  may  be 
working,  but  we  do  our  work  mechanically,  with  the  hand, 
putting  no  heart  into  it;  we  may  be  reading,  but  what  we  read 
passes  before  our  brain,  leaving  no  impression  ;  we  may 
be  talking  with  our  friends,  but  we  do  not  enter  into  their 
thoughts,  nor  they  into  ours.  Nothing  real  enters  into  us 
from  God's  universe;  nothing  real  goes  out  of  us  into  God's 
universe.     This  condition  is  death  in  life. 

And  yet,  as  vanity  is  a  weed  which  grows  everywhere, 
people  are  sometimes  found  who  are  vain  of  this  condition, 
proud  of  their  emptiness,  taking  a  certain  satisfaction  in 
being  tired  of  the  world,  bored  with  everything  which  is. 
These  little  insects  which  have  just  begun  their  ephem- 
eral existence  are  already  fatigued  by  it.  Everything 
is  tedious,  they  say.  God's  universe  does  not  come 
up  to  their  expectations ;  they  confess  that  they  have  ex- 
hausted the  world.  "  Omnia  fui,  nihil  expedit"  said  the 
Roman  Emperor.  "I  have  been  everything,  and  it 
amounts  to  nothing."  No,  Roman  Emperor,  you  have  not 
been  everything  ;  you  have  not  been  anything.  In  many 
and  many  a  home  in  your  vast  empire,  loving  fathers  and 
mothers  have  seen  more  of  real  life  than  you  have  seen, 
for  to  love  is  to  live.  Many  an  earnest  patriot,  loving  his 
country ;  many  a  serious  thinker,  in  love  with  truth  ;  many 
a  loyal  worker,  doing  his  work  not  to  be  seen  of  men, 
but  to  be  seen  of  God,  has  been  living.  But  you,  O  Em- 
peror, have  only  seemed  to  live  in  your  great  position. 
You  say  "  you  have  been  everything ;  "  you  have  not  been 
anything,  for  you  have  not  been  seeking  realities,  but  vani- 
ties, and  we  only  live  when  we  take  interest  in  what  is  real. 


48  HOW   TO    CHANGE   TIME    INTO    LIFE. 

Love  is  life,  and  we  can  only  love  reality  ;  we  cannot  love 
appearances. 

Whenever  we  give  ourselves,  with  a  real  interest,  to  any- 
thing in  which  God's  eternal  nature  is  to  be  found,  we  get 
life  out  of  it.  God  is  in  nature,  and  so  the  serious  student 
of  nature,  who  loves  and  studies  it  for  its  own  sake,  gets 
life  out  of  that  study.  That  is  why  such  men  as  Agassiz 
and  Jeffreys  Wyman  were  full  of  vital  power  to  the  last, 
going  forward,  ever  forward,  forgetting-things  behind,  reach- 
ing out  to  those  before  ;  perpetual  seekers,  with  no  past 
behind  them.  How  little  did  such  men  care  for  wealth, 
for  fame,  for  position,  compared  with  knowledge !  To 
know,  and  to  know  truly,  exactly,  thoroughly  —  that  fed  their 
souls.  Every  day  they  were  turning  time  into  life,  because 
they  were  in  love  with  God  as  he  is  seen  in  his  majestic 
universe.  They  saw  him  in  its  mysterious  processes,  in  its 
beautiful  adaptations,  in  its  deeply  penetrating  laws.  A 
scientific  man,  loving  science,  not  for  its  wages,  but  for  it- 
self, he  has  life  and  he  has  it  abundantly. 

But  God  is  present,  not  merely  in  nature,  but  also  in 
man.  Those  who  are  really  interested  in  their  fellow-beings, 
who  are  laboring  for  the  progress  of  humanity,  seeking  to 
save  the  lost,  advocating  good  reforms  and  necessary  im- 
provements, helping  their  neighbors  —  they,  also,  become 
full  of  life.  They  are  in  communion  with  God,  and  feed- 
ing at  the  great  source  of  eternal  life.  Their  work  may 
be  conspicuous  or  humble,  they  may  be  helping  mankind 
or  one  lonely  soul ;  but  if  it  is  done  not  from  egotism  or 
love  of  notoriety,  but  from  a  real  sympathy  with  their 
fellow-men,  then  they  show,  by  ever-increasing  interest,  that 
they  are  drinking  at  the  fountain  of  life. 

Did  you  never  have  such  an  experience  as  this  ?  You 
were  weary  or  empty  ;  you  were  discontented  and  dissatis- 
fied ;  dissatisfied  with  others  because  you  were  dissatisfied 


HOW   TO   CHANGE   TIME   INTO   LIFE.  49 

with  yourself ;  discontented  with  things  about  you,  because 
things  within  you  were  not  in  good  order.  But  then  the 
Lord  sent  you  some  one  to  be  interested  in ;  some  poor 
little  child,  who  needed  to  be  taken  care  of  ;  some  forsaken 
-  and  fallen  wretch,  who  needed  to  be  set  on  his  feet  ;  some 
one  struggling  with  a  hard  fate,  who  roused  your  sympathy 
by  his  courage.  Your  heart  was  drawn  out ;  you  came  into 
communion  with  him  ;  you  began  to  be  really  interested  in 
him  ;  and  so  God  poured  His  own  divine  life  into  your  soul 
through  this  brother's  need.  You  were  dead  and  became 
alive  again. 

That  which  gives  us  power  and  motive,  faith  and  hope, 
which  excites  our  interest  in  nature,  in  truth,  in  humanity, 
is  to  know  those  who  largely  possess  this  interest.  That  is 
why  we  have  such  unfeigned  gratitude  and  reverence  for 
the  generous  philanthropists,  the  noble  men  of  science,  the 
artists,  devoured  by  love  of  beauty,  the  earnest  lovers  of 
truth,  the  great  poets  and  thinkers  and  workers  of  former 
times  and  of  our  own.  These  are  our  saints,  and  they  help 
us  all  by  giving  us  some  of  their  own  love  for  truth  and 
humanity.  Such  men  inspire  us  all  with  new  hope,  awaken 
in  us  all  new  interest.  The  Romish  Calendar  of  Saints 
has  many  grand  persons  in  it ;  but  the  true  Catholic  Church 
which  is  to  come  will  have  a  larger  and  still  nobler  army  of 
martyrs,  a  more  goodly  company  of  prophets,  and  a  more 
angelic  choir  of  saints.  For  it  will  include  all  serious 
thinkers,  all  earnest  workers,  all  generous  givers,  all  honest 
seekers,  all  who  love  God  by  loving  truth  and  loving  man. 

What  we  need  in  order  to  turn  time  into  life  is  to  have 
faith  in  the  value  of  things ;  to  believe  that  there  are  strange 
and  marvellous  mysteries  all  around  us,  waiting  to  be  known  ; 
that  our  life  is  surrounded  by  wonder  and  awe,  -ready  to  be 
revealed  ;  that  man  is  capable  of  immense  progress,  and  has 
in  him  depths  below  depths  of  capacity  ;  that  God  is  in  the 

4 


50  HOW  TO  CHANGE  TIME   INTO   LIFE. 

world,  and  that  he  is  and  must  be  good  ;  that  evil  is  tran- 
sient, good  permanent ;  that,  notwithstanding  all  the 
wickedness  around  us,  there  is  more  good  than  evil  in  hu- 
man nature  ;  that  the  good  in  man  is  permanent,  the  evil 
transient ;  that  it  is  God's  will  to  save  the  world  from  its 
sin  and  woe,  and  that  it  will  be  saved.  With  this  sort  of 
faith,  all  things,  aU  persons  become  interesting ;  we  love 
our  work,  and  pursue  it  with  ardor.  Life  then  seems  hope- 
ful, and  we  have  not  time  enough  to  do  all  we  wish,  to  see 
all  we  wish,  to  learn  all  we  wish.  This  it  is  to  do  all  things 
to  the  glory  of  God. 

It  was  by  giving  such  a  faith  to  the  world  that  Jesus 
gave  it  life,  and  gave  it  more  abundantly.  He  renewed  the 
decaying  existence  of  the  human  race,  by  being  himself 
filled  with  this  profound  faith  in  God  and  in  goodness. 
He  inspired  all  around  him  with  like  convictions.  He  gave 
to  the  world  a  new  impulse,  and  poured  into  its  veins 
a  new  vitality.  In  order  to  take  interest  in  anything,  we 
must  have  faith  in  God.  I  do  not  mean  any  technical  or 
theological  faith  ;  but  I  mean  a  confidence  in  goodness — 
its  reality,  its  permanence,  its  power  to  conquer  evil.  We 
must  have  a  confidence  in  truth,  beauty,  love,  as  supreme 
realities.  Then  the  whole  world  becomes  interesting,  life 
becomes  interesting,  time  becomes  precious  ;  the  years  as 
they  come  and  go  give  us  more  and  more  of  life ;  we  grow 
young  as  we  grow  old ;  when  the  outward  man  perishes, 
the  inward  man  is  renewed  day  by  day. 
_  Less  in  degree,  but  similar  in  kind,  is  the  influence 
exerted  on  us  by  other  great  souls  who  have  been  full  of 
this  profound  faith  in  the  reality  of  goodness  and  truth  j 
and  have  hoped  and  worked,  and  lived  and  died,  going 
before  other  men  as  examples  and  inspirations. 

Such  a  man  was  our  good  and  wise  James  Walker.     He 
was  one  in  whom  faith  and  hope  were  not  blind  enthusiasms. 


HOW   TO   CHANGE   TIME    INTO    LIFE.  5 1 

but  steady  and  serene  lights,  shining  on  all  things.  He 
was  interested  in  truth,  and,  as  thinker  and  student,  pursued 
truth  all  his  days,  calmly,  but  earnestly.  He  was  interested 
in  man,  in  human  progress,  in  the  education  of  the  race, 
and  worked  for  these  ends,  calmly,  wisely,  earnestly.  He 
loved  the  young,  and  they  loved  him.  He  went  through 
the  difficult  ordeal  of  the  college  presidency,  where  so  many 
strong  men  have  broken  down,  with  eminent  success.  All 
the  students  who  were  in  college  during  his  time  loved  him. 
No  matter  what  other  and  more  famous  men  appeared  at 
the  college  festivals,  he  was  the  one  always  welcomed  with 
the  most  abounding  enthusiasm.  They  loved  him  for  his 
genial  sympathy,  they  revered  him  for  his  sagacious  wisdom, 
they  trusted  in  him  as  a  faithful  friend. 

Such  a  man,  also,  was  Gerritt  Smith :  a  man  who  has 
increased  our  faith  in  human  disinterestedness,  in  human 
devotion  to  good,  in  sincere  liberality  of  heart  and  hand. 
He  was  one  not  corrupted  by  wealth  ;  capable  of  using  it 
as  a  steward,  as  something  not  his  own,  but  a  talent  in- 
trusted to  him  for  the  good  of  others.  A  man  whose 
perfect  conscientiousness  no  one  ever  doubted ;  a  man 
whose  large  soul  gave  us  all  a  sense  of  great  freedom  ; 
whose  interest  in  every  good  cause  kept  him  ever  young  ; 
who  lived  pure  amid  surrounding  venality  and  corruption  ; 
forgetting  what  was  behind,  reaching  out  to  that  before  ; 
full  of  interest  in  all  good  things  to  the  end  ;  a  life-bringer 
to  the  society  around  him,  and  to  all  who  knew  him.  So, 
while  his  outward  man  perished,  his  inward  man  was 
renewed  day  by  day. 

Such  a  man,  also,  was  Ezra  Cornell ;  a  self-made  man  ; 
who,  having  received  only  a  common-school  education, 
gave,  during  his  life,  $700,000  to  found  a  noble  university, 
where  others  might  be  taught  the  best  message  of  science 
and  be  imbued  with  the  best  knowledge  of  letters.     His 


52  HOW   TO    CHANGE   TIME    INTO    LIFE. 

name  he  has  connected  with  this  institution,  where  liberal 
studies  are  pursued  in  the  most  liberal  spirit ;  where  women 
study  with  men  without  injury  to  their  health  of  body  or  of 
mind.  When  he  left  the  world,  he  left  it  richer,  not  only 
in  this  noble  institution,  but  in  this  new  example  of  one 
who  regarded  himself  as  a  steward  of  his  wealth  and  who 
used  it  so  as  to  give  new  mental  and  moral  life  to  others, 
and  to  gain  more  and  more  for  himself.  - 

Such  a  man  also  was  Charles  Sumner,  whose  death  in 
March  seems  a  still  recent  event,  and  one  of  the  most 
important  of  the  year  which  has  just  closed.  His  life  and 
his  death  have  both  given  us  new  faith  in  human  nature  ; 
his  life,  because  it  was  steadily  devoted  to  generous  and 
noble  ends;  because  no  one  ever  saw  or  suspected  in  it  any 
element  of  corruption  ;  because  it  proved  again  that  man 
can  rise  out  of  reach  of  those  temptations  which  destroy  so 
many  souls,  that  honesty  can  become  a  parcel  of  the  fibre 
of  the  brain,  and  the  particles  of  blood,  and  be  incorporate 
at  last  in  bone  and  frame.  His  life  shows  us  that  men  may 
become  at  last  incapable  of  falsehood,  wholly  inaccessible 
to  vulgar  vice.  His  death  also  showed  that  mankind 
appreciates  real  virtue ;  that  though  they  may  be  deceived 
for  a  time  by  party  feeling  and  political  interests,  they  at 
last  know  who  is  truly  to  be  honored.  Charles  Sumner 
did  much  for  the  country  during  his  life,  but  he  did  as 
much  for  it  at  his  death,  by  revealing  the  fact  that  men 
after  all  only  honor  what  is  honorable,  only  love  what  is 
lovable,  and  that  every  man  shall  reap  what  he  has  sown. 

In  April  last,  the  remains  of  Dr.  Livingstone  were 
interred  in  Westminster  Abbey,  giving  another  proof  of  the 
appreciation  wjiich  mankind  has  for  generous  lives,  devoted 
to  pure  objects.  His  soul  was  large  enough  to  take  an 
interest  in  men  and  things  both  in  God's  world  of  nature, 
and  God's  world  of  humanity.  He  travelled  for  years 
among  the  tribes  of  Africa,  who  are  considered  to  be  the 


HOW   TO    CHANGE   TIME    TNTO    LIFE.  53 

most  savage,  and  found  them  only  kind  and  friendly.  Just 
so  the  Catholic  missionaries,  Father  Hennepin  and  Mar- 
quette, travelled  among  the  American  Indians,  and  found 
them  also  friendly.  Those  Catholic  priests  and  this  Pro- 
testant missionary  had  the  same  spirit ;  both  were  interested 
in  the  study  of  God's  world,  and  the  reform  of  God's  chil- 
dren ;  and  both  have  left  a  permanent  testimony  to  the 
truth  that  an  honest  purpose  of  doing  good  will  tame  the 
most  savage,  and  change  cruelty  into  good- will. 

We  live  only  by  progress  ;  if  we  attempt  to  stand  still, 
we  go  backward,  and  lose  our  vital  power.  Religion,  in 
its  true  essence,  is  at  the  root  of  all  progress,  because  it 
inspires  that  faith  in  truth,  in  goodness,  in  God's  world, 
which  makes  us  Interested  in  all  things.  The  worst  effect 
of  atheistic  opinions  is  not  that  they  dishonor  God  ;  for 
he  cannot  be  injured  by  human  doubts  or  denials,  any 
more  than  the  laws  of  astronomy  can  be  displeased  by 
being  disputed  or  opposed.  If  any  man  chooses  to 
deny  the  law  of  gravitation,  that  law  is  not  offended,  but 
continues  as  before,  to  lend  him  its  beneficent  aid.  If  any 
man  denies  God,  or  opposes  Christianity,  God  continues 
to  befriend  him,  and  Christianity  continues  to  bless 
him.  But  the  real  harm  done  by  the  denial  of  a  divine 
presence  and  providence  in  nature  and  life  is  that  in  the 
long  run  it  will  destroy  our  interest  in  the  world,  in  men, 
in  events.  Such  atheistic,  pessimistic,  cynical  views  take 
the  life  out  of  us.  I  see  young,  men  who  are  tainted  by 
such  notions,  and  what  strikes  me  in  them  is  that  they  seem 
to  take  very  little  interest  in  anything.  Their  inward  man 
perishes,  though  the  outer  man  may  be  renewed  by  God  day 
by  day.  It  is  sad  to  see  an  old  man  whose  heart  is  dry  and 
whose  soul  is  withered ;  but  it  is  still  worse  to  see  this  in 
the  young,  to  whom  God  has  given  an  inheritance  of 
faith  and  hope,  and  to  whom  all  things  ought  to  appear  new 
and  fair. 


54  HOW   TO   CHANGE   TIME    INTO    LIFE. 

"  Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead,  but  go  thou  and  preach 
the  kingdom  of  God."  Dreamy  meditators  on  the  past, 
active  strivers  in  the  present,  hopeful  prophets  of  the  future  j 
preach,  all  of  you,  the  kingdom  of  God,  by  faith,  by  hope, 
by  love.  As  time  and  all  of  its  works,  possessions,  joys, 
are  passing  rapidly  away,  secure  that  which  is  unchanging 
and  eternal.  Have  faith  in  God.  Faith,  not  opinions,  or 
dead  belief  ;  but  faith.  Faith,  which  learns  to  see  God 
present  in  nature  ;  present  in  providence  ;  present  in  the 
soul ;  which  finds  him  in  all  changes,  him  in  all  joys  and 
sorrows,  him  in  the  near  duty  of  the  hour,  him  in  the 
large  vision  of  the  ages.  Have  hope,  active  hope,  which 
shall  enable  you  to  work  in  the  cause  of  justice  and 
humanity  ;  to  Work,  though  in  a  minority  ;  to  work,  though 
no  success  nor  reputation  seems  to  come.  Work,  not 
merely  conscientiously,  but  hopefully,  and  you  will  work  suc- 
cessfully. Hope  to  do  some  good  thing  for  some  one. 
Hope  to  make  joy  and  peace  where  you  go  and  where  you 
stay.     Hope  to  serve  God  by  serving  man. 

And  most  of  all,  have  rove.  If  there  is  any  bitterness  in 
your  heart  towards  any  human  being  root  it  out.  It  is  a  cor- 
roding poison  in  your  soul ;  get  rid  of  it.  Love ;  that  is,  go 
out  of  yourself  j  go  forth  in  sympathy  with  others  ;  go  forth 
to  do  them  good,  by  the  power  of  God  in  your  own  soul, 
by  the  grace  of  God  in  your  own  heart.  By  your  own  hope 
of  a  grand  future,  lift  others  out  of  their  skepticism,  their 
doubts,  their  despair.  These  things  shall  last  ;  they  shall 
not  pass  away.  Nothing  can  separate  us  from  the  love  of 
God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  Faith,  hope,  and 
love,  the  heavenly  sisters,  the  three  Christian  graces,  with 
arms  sweetly  intertwined,  like  yet  unlike,  as  becomes  sis- 
ters; not  the  same  aspect  to  each,  yet  not  wholly  different ; 
these  three  shall  cause  that  you  be  not  barren  nor  unfruitful. 
Begin  life  so,  and  it  will  pass  joyfully  \o  its  close. 


VI. 

BARE  GRAIN. 
"  Thou  sowest  not  the  body  which  shall  be,  but  bare  grain." 

DURING  the  last  week  we  have  had  a  second  edition 
of  our  summer,  which  seemed  almost  gone  —  a  sec- 
ond edition,  abridged,  condensed  into  a  few  days,  but 
charming,  because  unexpected.  We  thought  the  summer 
over  ;  it  has  suddenly  returned,  like  a  friend  who  has  taken 
leave  of  you,  and,  when  you  go  back  solitary,  feeling  a  little 
lonely,  into  your  empty  house,  lo  !  he  comes  back,  and 
says  he  will  give  you  another  day  or  two.  So  summer  comes 
back  to-day,  as  Indian  summer,  the  steady  south-west  winds 
sweeping  up  from  tropical  regions  some  strange  aroma, 
hinting  of  the  equator ;  long  days  full  of  purple  light,  the 
air  soft  and  balm  to  the  lungs.  No  wonder  the  poor  In- 
dian, with  untutored  mind,  lonely  in  his  narrow  thought, 
feeling  after  God,  if  .haply  he  might  find  him,  dreamed  that 
he  saw  in  the  haze  illumined  sky  of  October  some  glimpse 
of  the  happy  hunting-fields  where  his  fathers  roamed. 

We  enjoy  the  more  this  little  scrap  of  summer,  this 
crumb  fallen  from  the  table  of  Mother  Nature,  because  it 
is  something  extra,  and  something  unexpected.  Work- 
people in  Europe,  beside  their  regular  wages,  expect  some 
little  extra  gift,  which  they  call,  in  Italian,  buono-mano. 
And  they  seem  to  take  more  pleasure  in  their  buono-mano 
than  in  their  regular  wages.     These  warm  days  in  Septem- 

(55) 


56  BARE    GRAIN. 

ber  are  Nature's  buono-mano.  It  is  something  extra.  We 
become  accustomed  to  that  which  comes  regularly,  and 
think  it  our  right.  We  consider  ourselves  hardly  used  if 
we  do  not  get  our  regular  allowance  of  food,  sleep,  health, 
amusement,  and  the  like.  Give  a  child  the  thing  once, 
and  the  next  time  he  claims  it  as  a  right.  He  says,  "  You 
gave  it  to  me  once,  papa."  We  are  all  children  in  this. 
As  soon  as  any  of  God's  gifts  become  regular,  we  transfer 
them  from  the  category  of  favors  to  that  of  rights,  and  ex- 
pect them  as  a  thing  of  course.  And  I  think,  therefore, 
that  God  has  left  this  margin  of  the  unexpected,  the  casual, 
around  all  the  majestic  machinery  of  law,  in  order  to  give 
us  the  joy  of  feeling  the  gift,  to  give  himself  the  joy  of  being 
loved  as  the  giver.  Around  the  steady  order  of  things  floats 
evermore  this  uncertainty  of  events.  The  worldly  man 
calls  it  chance,  the  religious  man  calls  it  Providence.  We 
have  detected  law  everywhere,  and  extended  its  domains 
more  and  more,  and  so  built  up  scientific  knowledge.  We 
can  calculate  an  eclipse  a  thousand  years  forward,  a 
thousand  years  backward,  to  the  fraction  of  a  minute.  But 
there  are.  some  things  which  remain  forever  incalculable. 
Who  can  calculate  beforehand  an  eclipse  of  the  heart  ? 
And  who  would  wish  to  do  so  ?  Who  can  predict  before- 
hand, by  algebra,  or  calculus,  the  unexpected  advent  of  a 
new  affection  ?  Let  us  be  thankful  that  there  are  some 
surprises  in  the  world,  some  things  which  elude  mathemat- 
ics,  some  Indian  summer  days  which  come  when  no  one 
has  predicted  them,  to  warm  the  heart  through  and  through  ; 
because  being  unlooked  for,  they  seem  more  like  a  direct 
gift  from  God. 

This  return  of  summer  in  the  form  of  Indian  summer 
has  suggested  to  me  the  subject  of  returning  events,  of  re- 
currence in  human  affairs,  of  the  circular  and  spiral  move- 
ment in  history  and  life. 


BARE    GRAIN.  $7 

Things  come  back,  but  when  they  come  back  they  are 
seldom  exactly  what  they  were  before.  Summer  returns 
as  Indian  summer ;  history  is  always  repeating  itself,  but 
on  a  higher  plane.  Even  the  good  man  commits  the  same 
faults  in  age  that  he  committed  in-  youth,  but  in  a  nobler 
way,  so  that  the  fault  almost  ceases  to  be  one.  Every 
living  thing  which  seems  to  die  revives  again,  and  comes 
up  in  a  new  and  higher  form.  So  history  repeats  itself, 
not  in  a  circle,  but  in  an  ascending  spiral.  We  return  to 
the  same  spot,  but  always  a  little  higher  up. 

The  difference  between  two  men,  one  having  Christian 
faith  and  the  other  not  having  it,  is  this  :•  both  commit  the 
same  faults,  and  repeat  the  same  experience,  but  the  one 
repeats  it  always  high  up.  He  rises  to  a  higher  spirit  :  he 
sinks  to  a  deeper  insight.  He  has  more  faith,  more  hope, 
more  love  to  God  and  man.  Thus  he  takes  the  past  with 
him,  as  precious  seed  of  a  better  future.  He  loses  nothing, 
leaves  nothing  behind.  His  youth  departs,  with  its  golden 
summer  days,  but  returns  again  an  Indian  summer  with 
mellower  warmth,  and  a  more  enchanting  peace.  Let  there 
only  be  faith  in  the  heart  in  God  as  a  friend  and  father, 
and  it  fills  life  with  hope,  and  hope  leads  to  constant  pro- 
gress. The  Christian  army  marches  ever  to  the  East,  with 
the  dawn  shining  on  its  white  shields  of  expectation. 

But  just  in  proportion  as  this  faith  is  wanting,  life  goes 
round  and  round,  in  a  mere  mill-horse  circle  of  routine. 
Faults  repeat  themselves  exactly  as  before. 

"  Experience,  with  a  world  of  sighs 

Purchased,  and  pain  and  heartbreak,  have  been  hers, 
And  taught  her  nothing  ;  where  she  erred,  she  errs." 

The  planets  move  round  and  round  forever  in  the  same 
ellipse.  The  seasons  of  the  year  return  with  little  change, 
and  no  seeming  progress.  Man's  life  is  a  repetition  of 
work  and  rest,  day  and  night,  eating,  talking,  sleeping, 


58  BARE   GRAIN. 

"  We  live  and  die ;  eat,  drink,  wake,  sleep  between  ; 
Walk,  talk,  like  clockwork  too  ; 
So  pass,  in  order  due, 
Over  the  scene." 

If  we  look  only  at  this,  life  grows  very  tiresome.  The 
despair  of  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  comes  over  us,  and  we 
say,  "  What  profit  has  a  man  of  all  his  labor  that  he  takes 
under  the  sun  ? "  For  all  "  things  return,  according  to 
their  circuit." 

But  the  New  Testament  teaches  another  lesson  than  the 
Book  of  Ecclesiastes.  It  is  a  proof  of  the  divine  origin  of 
these  Gospels  and  Epistles,  —  that  they  are  full,  through 
and  through,  of  the  spirit  of  hope.  They  have  filled  the 
world  with  faith  in  progress,  with  an  undying  expectation 
of  improvement,  with  a  trust  in  something  better  to-day 
than  we  had  yesterday.  Throughout  they  cry  to  us  :  "  The 
life  we  sow  to-day  is  seed  of  something  better  to  come  to- 
morrow. We  do  not  plant  that  which  is  to  be,  but  only  its 
seed.  Our  present  life,  which  we  are  leading  now,  com- 
pared to  that  which  is  to  come  to  us,  is  only  as  naked  seed 
is  to  the  green  and  graceful  plant  which  springs  from  it." 

The  Old  World,  of  Pagan  religion  and  philosophy,  was 
very  much  ennuytd.  It  had  grown  morose  and  cynical.  It 
expected  nothing,  it  had  little  hope  left  in  its  heart.  One 
man  said,  "  It  is  better  to  stand  than  to  walk  ;  better  to  sit 
than  to  stand  ;  better  to  lie  down  than  to  sit  ;  better  to 
sleep  than  to  wake  ;  better  is  a  dreamless  sleep  than 
dreams  ;  death  is  better  than  even  a  dreamless  sleep  ;  and 
never  to  have  been  is  the  best  of  all." 

Now,  I  think,  that  the  new  life  of  Christianity  consisted 
very  much  in  giving  hope  to  the  world.  See  Paul,  the 
poor  Jew,  writing  to  the  Romans,  masters  of  the  world, 
telling  them  to  take  courage,  and  to  hope.  "  Now  the 
God  of  all  hope  fill  you  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  believing, 


BARE    GRAIN.  59 

that  we  may  abound  in  hope,  through  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit." 

The  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit!  What  else  but  that 
could  have  filled  the  hearts  of  this  handful  of  Jewish  teach- 
ers with  a  hope  so  immense  that  the  despair  of  mankind 
gave  way  before  it.  As  when  a  glacier  pours  its  enormous 
river  of  ice  through  Alpine  ravines,  descending  into  the 
valleys,  it  wastes  away  imperceptibly,  and  turns  to  moist 
vapors,  filling  the  valley  with  masses  of  foliage  —  so  this 
glacier  of  despair  melted  in  the  warm  breath  of  the  new 
Christian  life.  I  want  no  other  evidence  of  the  inspiration 
of  the  New  Testament  than  this  spirit  of  hope  which  fills 
its  every  page.  Where  do  you  find  in  it  any  hesitation, 
any  relapse  into  doubt,  any  fear  ?  All  sacred  books  pos- 
sess this  element  of  hope,  and  that  gives  them  their  power ; 
but  most  of  them  hope  for  better  things  only  in  another 
world  and  a  future  life,  while  the  New  Testament  expects 
heaven  to  come  first  here  below.  Its  daily  prayer  says, 
"  Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done,  on  earth,  as  it  is 
done  in  heaven."  The  letters  of  Paul  and  Peter  are  full  of 
expectation  of  Christ's  coming  to  reign  on  earth.  That 
great  expectation  of  Christ's  coming  was  the  seed  that  the 
New  Testament  planted  in  civilization  ;  and  it  has  borne 
its  fruits  in  all  human  progress. 

It  is  true  that  they  planted  not  the  body  which  was  to 
be,  but  naked  grain.  The  faith  they  planted  was  of 
Christ's  return  in  person,  sitting  on  a  throne  in  heaven  and 
judging  all  nations.  That  was  what  the  first  Christians 
expected  ;  perhaps  the  apostles  themselves  sometimes  ex- 
pected it,  interpreting  Christ's  own  words  too  literally, 
when  he  said  he  should  come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven, 
"  with  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  to  summon  his  elect."  But 
the  truth  which  Jesus  intended  in  this  parable  has  come  to 
pass.     He  has  come  to  us,  this  same  Holy  Jesus,  in  all 

if  U  a  I  ¥  B  * 


60  BARE    GRAIN. 

those  Christian  influences  which  have  made  a  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth.  New  heavens  ;  for  instead  of  the  old  gods 
of  terror  whom  the  Pagan  world  saw,  we  now  see  in  the 
opening  heavens  the  Son  of  man  by  the  side  of  his  Father. 
God  looks  on  the  world  now  as  its  Father  and  Friend.  A 
new  earth  ;  for  Christ  has  made  us  believe  in  the  brother- 
hood of  man,  and'  that  makes  all  things  new  below. 

Every  living  seed  planted  in  human  history  comes  up 
again,  but  in  a  higher  form.  Judaism  was  a  living  seed. 
It  had  a  real  faith  in  the  One  true  and  living  God.  The 
Jewish  religion  fell  into  the  ground  and  seemed  to  perish. 
Its  -sacrifices  ceased,  its  temple  was  destroyed,  its  great 
priesthood  came  to  an  end.  But  go  to  Rome,  and  there, 
in  St.  Peter's,  you  will  see  the  Jewish  temple  worship 
revived,  but  in  a  higher  form.  There  is  the  priestly  pro- 
cession, the  Pope  as  high  priest,  the  Levites  and  the  altar, 
there  are  the  great  annual  festivals.  It  is  Judaism  re- 
turned. But  it  is  Judaism  on  a  higher  plane.  If  you  wish 
to  see  what  the  Jewish  worship  was,  do  not  go  to  the  syna- 
gogue on  Warrenton  Street,  but  go  to  the  Church  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  on  Harrison  Avenue.  I  call  the 
Catholic  worship  Jewish  rather  than  Christian  ;  but  I  call 
it  transfigured  and  ennobled  Judaism. 

The  one  thing  needful,  the  only  essential  in  Christianity, 
is  to  have  Christ  formed  within  us,  the  hope  of  glory  ;  hope 
of  glory  here,  in  all  forms  of  growing  goodness,  generosity, 
honor ;  and  of  glory,  honor,  immortality  hereafter.  Christ 
himself  was-  the  seed  planted  in  Palestine,  which  has  come 
up  in  Christianity  in  that  new  body  which  pleased  God. 
As  Paul  said,  "  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  lives  in  me," 
so  we  all  may  say,  so  far  as  we  have  any  real  spiritual  life, 
"I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ,  who  is  love  to  God  and  man, 
lives  in  me."  Christianity  is  Christ  come  up  in  a  new 
form. 


BARE    GRAIN.  6 1 

When  in  the  world  Jusus  worked  outward,  physical 
miracles.  He  works  miracles  still,  but  in  a  new  way. 
"  The  blind  receive  their  sight,  the  lame  walk,  the  deaf 
hear,  the  dead  are  raised,"  but  not  now  by  a  mere  touch 
or  word.  If  that  kind  of  miracle  had  been  continued,  it 
would  soon  have  become  a  mere  routine  too,  and  been 
thought  a  matter  of  course.  So  instead,  we  have  the  same 
end  accomplished  by  the  same  power,  only  indirectly  and 
mediately  in  all  Christian  civilization.  We  have  blind 
asylums,  and  deaf  and  dumb  asylums,  and  sanitary  asso- 
ciations. These  all  proceed  from  the  Christian  spirit  of 
humanity,  and  so  come  from  the  seed  which  Christ's  mira- 
cles planted.  Those  miracles  were  symbols,  prophetic  of 
the  Christian  civilization  which  was  to  follow.  They  were 
bare  grain,  to  which  God  gave  the  body  which  pleased 
him. 

Visitors  to  Rome,  looking  out  from  its  lofty  walls  over 
the  Campagna,  see  with  delight  the  long  line  of  arches 
which  cross  the  plain,  converging  towards  the  city  from  the 
distant  mountains.  They  are  the  remains  of  the  ancient 
aqueducts,  which  formerly  brought  supplies  of  water  to 
the  immense  population  of  ancient  Rome.  Visitors  of 
Chicago  are  carried  down  to  see  a  tunnel  running  two 
miles  under  the  lake,  which  brings  pure  water  in  inexhaust- 
ible supplies  to  that  new-born  metropolis  of  the  prairies. 
The  methods  differ,  the  water  is  the  same.  Forms  change, 
but  the  needs  of  men  remain.  So  the  soul  of  man  needs 
always  to  drink  the  same  living  water  of  faith  and  hope. 
Without  it,  he  dies  of  thirst,  in  doubt  and  despair.  What 
is  life  without  it  ?  What  are  all  the  gifts  of  this  world 
without  it  ?  All  are  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,  unless  we 
have  faith  in  God,  duty  and  immortality.  But  if  we  have 
that,  no  matter  how  it  comes.  The  water  is  the  same, 
whether  it  is  drawn  up  from  Jacob's  spring,  or  brought 


62  BARE   GRAIN. 

through  a  Roman  aqueduct,  or  spouts  from  an  artesian 
well,  or  is  pumped  up  through  a  Chicago  tunnel.  So,  if  we 
have  love  to  God  and  man,  and  have  faith  in  the  great  and 
blessed  future,  if  we  believe  good  stronger  than  evil,  and 
life  more  permanent  than  death,  it  is  no  matter  by  what 
Jewish  or  Roman  aqueduct  or  modern  creed  that  pure 
water  comes.  God  gives  it  the  body* which  has  pleased 
him,  and  to  every  seed  its  own  body. 


VII. 

IN  HIS  NAME. 
"  His  name,  through  faith  in  his  name,  hath  made  this 

MAN    STRONG." 

THE  story  told  in  the  book  of  Acts  is  that  a  man  afflicted 
with  congenital  lameness  was  instantly  cured  by  Peter, 
who  simply  said  to  him,  "  In  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazar- 
eth, the  Messiah,  rise  up  and  walk."  It  also  appears  that 
he  was  a  man  well  known  to  have  been  lame  all  his  life. 

Instances  are  not  unknown  in  history  of  persons  healed 
instantaneously  of  chronic  disease  by  some  strong  influence 
exerted  on  the  mind.  If  the  body  acts  on  the  mind,  as  we 
know  that  it  does,  it  is  quite  as  certain  that  the  mind  acts 
on  the  body.  A  piece  of  news  communicated  suddenly  to 
the  mind  will  cause  the  body  to  faint  away,  or  produce  what 
is  called  syncope.  That  is  to  say,  that  without  any  physi- 
cal cause  there  is  a  physical  effect,  a  loss  of  sensation  and 
voluntary  motion,  with  diminution  or  stoppage  of  the  action 
of  the  heart  and  of  the  function  of  respiration. 

But  the  point  on  which  I  would  lay  stress  is  this,  that  in 
the  case  before  us  the  cure  seems  to  have  been  effected  by 
what  we  should  now  call  a  magical  process  ;  by  a  charm  ; 
by  the  utterance  of  a  name  —  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazar- 
eth. If  this  fact  stood  alone,  we  should  suppose  mistake 
or  interpolation  ;  but  in  truth  we  have  numerous  instances 
in  the  New  Testament  where  some  special  potency  is 
attributed  to  the  utterance  of  a  name,  especially  the  name 

of  Jesus.     Some  of  these  I  will  enumerate. 

(63) 


64  IN   HIS   NAME. 

Jesus  promises  that  he  will  be  with  every  two  or  three 
who  assemble  in  his  name  (Matt,  xviii.  20).  He  promises 
to  help  those  who  pray  in  his  name  (John  xiv.  13).  He 
repeats  the  promise,  "  If  ye  ask  anything  in  my  name,  I 
will  do  it "  (John  xiv.  14).  "  Whatsoever  ye  ask  the 
Father  in  my  name,  he  will  give  it  to  you  •"  (John  xv.  16). 
"  Hitherto  ye  have  asked  nothing  in  my  name  ;  ask  and 
receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full."  "  At  that  day  ye  shall 
ask  in  my  name,"  &c.  (John  xvi.  23,  24,  26.)  It  appears, 
also,  that  devils  were  cast  out  by  the  use  of  the  name  of 
Christ. 

This,  at  first  sight,  seems  like  magic.  For  magic  is 
essentially  this,  a  power  obtained  over  the  supernatural 
world  by  the  use  of  charms  and  talismans.  To  bring  down 
supernatural  power  by  natural  means  is  magic.  Magic 
consists  in  the  use  of  the  right  charm,  without  regard  to 
the  moral  character,  good  or  bad,  of  him  who  uses  it.  All 
depends  on  using  the  right  words,  no  matter  whether  they 
are  used  rightly  or  wrongly.  Asia  has  always  been  full  of 
magic.  Thus  in  some  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindoos 
we  read  of  very  wicked  men  who,  by  means  of  enchant- 
ments, at  last  compelled  the  gods  to  do  their  bidding.  So 
that  wonderful  story-book,  "  The  Arabian  Nights,"  is  full  of 
magic.  In  the  story  of  the  Forty  Thieves,  the  door  of  the 
cave  opened  by  enchantment  to  whoever  used  the  right 
word,  and  said  "  Open  Sesame,"  whether  it  was  said  by  the 
robbers  or  by  the  good  man.  According  to  magic,  the 
supernatural  world,  the  angels,  genii,  spirits,  gods,  or  devils, 
are  compelled  to  obey  the  charm  when  it  is  rightly  pro- 
nounced. The  motive  is  nothing,  the  object  in  view  is 
nothing,  the  character  of  him  who  does  it  is  nothing  ;  it  is 
merely  the  outward  act  which  accomplishes  the  result. 

If,  therefore,  we  believe  that  by  merely  putting  the  word 
"  Christ  "  at  the  beginning  or  end  of  our  prayer,  we  shall 


IN   HIS   NAME.  65 

obtain  some  blessing  from  God  which  he  would  not  other- 
wise bestow,  we  degrade  Christianity  to  the  level  of  a 
magical  process,  and  demoralize  it.  And  in  the  same  way 
we  turn  the  Christian  sacraments  into  magical  charms  if 
we  suppose  that  they  act  of  themselves,  irrespective  of  the 
moral  character  and  motive  of  him  who  uses  them.  To 
suppose  an  unconscious  child  to  be  spiritually  changed  by 
the  application  of  water,  accompanied  by  a  certain  formula, 
so  that  the  child  would  be  more  likely  to  be  saved  if  it 
were  to  die  after  this  sacrament  than  if  it  had  died  before 
it,  is  to  turn  baptism  into  a  charm  powerful  enough  to 
compel  God  to  do  what  otherwise  he  would  not  do.  This 
is  to  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  in  vain,  and  has  the  same 
evil  as  there  is  in  profane  swearing.  The  man  who  uses 
profane  oaths  calls  on  God  to  send  his  soul  into  everlasting 
perdition  on  the  condition  that  what  he  says  is  not  true,  or 
on  the  condition  that  he  omits  to  do  what  he  proposes. 
That  is,  he  undertakes  to  say  how  God  is  to  pronounce 
judgment  on  his  soul.  He  informs  the  Almighty*on  what 
conditions  he  intends  to  be  saved  or  lost.  If  his  language 
is  not  utterly  senseless,  this  is  what  he  means  by  it. 

Now,  I  think  it  quite  clear  that  the  whole  spirit  of 
Christianity  and  teaching  of  Jesus  is  utterly  opposed  to  any 
such  magical  notions.  According  to  Jesus,  men  were  saved 
not  by  the  use  of  his  name  as  an  outward  formula,  but 
by  obeying  his  precepts  and  doing  good  actions.  In  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  he  distinctly  rejects  any  such  merely 
outward  use  of  his  name.  "  Many  will  say  to  me,  in  that 
day,  Lord  !  Lord  !  have,  we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name, 
and  in  thy  name  cast  out  devils,  and  done  many  wonderful 
works ;  and  then  I  will  profess  unto  them,  "  Depart  from  me ; 
I  never  knew  you,  ye  that  work  iniquity."  Elsewhere  he 
says,  "Many  deceivers  shall  come  in  my  name."  "Not 
every  on  that  saith  unto  me,  '  Lord,  Lord  ! '  shall  enter 

5 


66  IN   HIS   NAME. 

into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of 
my  Father  which  is  in  Heaven." 

This  is  enough  to  show  that  Jesus,  himself,  attributed  no 
power  to  the  mere  use  of  words,  however  sacred.  What, 
then,  does  he  mean,  when  he  says  that  God  will  hear  us 
and  help  us  if  we  pray  "  in  his  name  ? " 

To  answer  this  question  we  must  understand  the  peculiar 
way  in  which  the  Jews  regarded  the  name  of  any  person. 

A  name,  with  us,  is  an  arbitrary  appendage,  having  no 
relation  to  a  man's  character.  We  call  one  of  our  children 
Frank  and  another  Prudence  with  no  expectation  that  their 
characters  will  correspond  at  all  to  these  names.  But,' 
to  the  Jew,  a  name  carried  a  mysterious  power,  expressive 
of  what  was  deepest  in  the  parent's  heart,  and  capable  of 
influencing  the  child's  destiny.  If  the  man  or  woman  ap- 
peared to  develope  new  qualities,  the  name  was  changed. 
Naomi,  whose  name  meant  "  Pleasant,"  asked  her  friends, 
in  her  desolation,  to  call  her  not  "  Naomi,"  Pleasant,  but 
"  Mara,"  Bitter.  So  Jesus  added  to  Simon's  name  that  of 
Peter  —  a  rock  ;  and  Saul's  name,  which  meant  "  a  de- 
stroyer," was  changed  to  Paul,  which  means  "  a  worker." 
The  apostles  altered  the  name  of  Josas  to  that  of  Barna- 
bas, which  signifies  "  a  son  of  consolation."  Jesus,  in  like 
manner,  called  his  two  disciples,  James  and  John,  "  the 
sons  of  thunder,"  perhaps  on  account  of  the  fire  which  he 
saw  in  their  characters. 

Thus  it  happened  that  to  come  in  the  name  of  any  one 
meant  to  come  in  his  spirit.  So  John  the  Baptist  was  said 
by  Jesus  to  be  the  Elijah  that  was  to  come,  because  he  came 
in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah.  When  the  Lord  said  to 
Moses,  "  Thou  hast  found  grace  in  my  sight,  and  I  know 
thee  by  name,"  it  means  that  the  Lord  knew  his  character, 
and  that  it  was  equal  to  his  work. 

Whenever  trust  "  in  God's  name  "  is  spoken  of,  it  means 


IN    HIS    NAME.  67 

trust  in  his  wisdom,  or  his  love,  or  his  providence.  When 
it  is  said  that  "  a  good  name  is  better  than  riches,"  it  means 
a  good  character.  When  Jesus  says  that  "  he  who  receives 
a  prophet  in  the  name  of  a  prophet  shall  receive  a  prophet's 
reward,"  it  signifies  that  he  who  is  in  sympathy  with  the 
spirit  of  the  prophet,  and  helps  the  prophet  on  that  account, 
shall  have  the  reward  of  being  himself  filled  with  the  same 
prophetic  spirit.  To  give  a  cup  of  cold  water  "  in  the  name 
of  a  disciple  "  means  that  the  smallest  good  action  done  in 
the  right  spirit  shall  have  its  reward.  When  Jesus  says, 
"  I  am  come  in  my  Father's  name  and  ye  receive  me  not ; 
if  another  shall  come  in  his  own  name,  him  ye  will  receive," 
I  suppose  he  meant  that  he  came  in  the  spirit  of  his 
heavenly  Father,  which  was  alien  from  their  own,  and  so 
they  did  not  receive  him,  while  another,  who  should  come 
in  his  own  earthly  will  and  worldly  spirit,  they  would  accept 
as  their  Messiah.  When  Jesus  said  in  his  prayer  to  God, 
"  I  have  manifested  thy  name  to  the  men  thou  hast  given 
to  me,"  he  meant  that  he  had  revealed  God's  character  to 
them.  When  he  said,  "  Holy  Father,  keep  through  Thine 
own  name  those  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  that  they  may 
be  one  as  we  are  one,"  he  evidently  prayed  that  God  might 
keep  them  by  his  spirit  in  a  spirit  of  unison  and  brotherly 
love.  When  he  added,  "  While  I  was  with  them  in  the  world 
I  have  kept  them  in  thy  name,"  he  seems  to  intend  that  by 
his  influence  over  them  he  kept  them  in  sympathy  with  God's 
character  and  will.  And  so  when  he  tells  them  to  "  pray 
in  his  name,"  he  means  to  tell  them  to  pray  in  his  spirit ; 
to  "  cast  out  devils  in  his  name,"  is  to  cast  them  out  by 
the  power  of  a  Christian  spirit.  His  words  were  spirit  and 
life.  The  whole  of  it  is  expressed  by  Paul  when  he  says 
that  "  God  has  made  us  able  ministers  of  the  New  Cove- 
nant ;  not  of  the  letter,  but  of  the  spirit ;  for  the  letter 
killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life."     It  is  not  by  trusting  to 


68  IN    HIS   NAME. 

words  nor  names,  to  forms  or  ceremonies,  to  creeds  or  cate- 
chism, that  we  come  near  to  God  and  Christ,  but  by  keep- 
ing ourselves  in  the  Christian  temper  and  spirit,  and  being 
in  sympathy  with  the  purpose  of  Jesus  and  the  will  of 
God. 

"  In  my  name  they  shall  cast  out  devils,"  said  Jesus. 
We  can  cast  out  devils,  if  We  do  it  in  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

There  are  a  great  many  devils  in  the  world  —  devils  of 
pride,  of  vanity,  of  lust,  of  dishonesty,  of  falsehood,  of 
cruelty.  Now,  if  we  attack  these  devils  in  the  name  of  the 
devil,  we  can  do  nothing.  If  we  meet  pride  with  pride, 
falsehood  with  cunning,  selfishness  with  self-will  —  if  we 
try  to  put  down  evil  with  evil,  we  shall  never  succeed.  We 
must  cast  out  devils  in  the  name  of  Christ  —  that  is,  "  over- 
come evil  with  good." 

There  is  a  wonderful  power  which  belongs  to  him  who 
allies  himself  to  truth  and  right.  As  Wordsworth  said  of 
"Toussaint  L'Ouverture :  " 

"  he  has  great  allies — 


*•     His  friends  are  exultations,  agonies, 

And  love,  and  man's  unconquerable  mind.' 

He  seems  to  be  defeated,  as  Jesus  seemed  to  be  defeated. 
But  he  triumphs  very  surely,  as  Jesus  triumphed.  The 
stars  in  their  courses  fight  for  him.  The  laws  of  the  uni- 
verse are  on  his  side.  Just  as  the  disciples,  after  the 
crucifixion  of  Jesus,  still  believed  that  he  was  coming  to 
reign  as  King,  and  spoke  of  "his  coming"  as  something 
certain  and  near  at  hand,  we  may  be  sure  that  every 
just  man's  triumph  is  near  by.  John  Brown  was  hung  in 
Charlestown,  Va. ;  but  the  cause  of  John  Brown,  the  cause 
of  freedom  for  the  slave,  was  even  then  near  at  hand. 
When  that  came,  he  came.  The  soldiers  of  the  Union, 
who -carried  their  conquering  arms  and  victorious  ideas  to 
New  Orleans  and  Mobile,  Charleston  and  Richmond,  sang 


IN   HIS    NAME.  69 

as  they  went,  that,  though  the  body  of  John  Brown  lay  in 
the  grave,  his  soul  was  marching  on.  His  soul  was  free- 
dom and  humanity  —  that  was  marching  on.  The  soldiers 
were  right. 

When  we  "  overcome  evil  by  good,"  then,  only,  do  we 
cast  out  devils  in  the  name  of  Christ. 

And  so,  to  pray  "  in  the  name  of  Christ "  does  not  mean 
to  put  the  name  of  Christ  at  the  end  of  our  prayer,  and 
say,  "  We  ask  this  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  But 
it  means  when  we  pray  to  be  in  Christ's  spirit ;  to  forget 
our  vanity,  selfishness,  egotism  ;  to  desire  the  good  of 
others  ;  the  coming  of  God's  kingdom  of  love.  It  means 
to  pray  in  faith,  relying  on  God's  love  ;  to  pray  in  submis- 
sion, saying  "  not  my  will,  but  thine,  be  done."  If  we 
pray  thus,  we  may  ask  what  we  will  and  it  shall  be  done 
unto  us,  for  we  shall  ask  only  what  God  wills.  We  shall 
ask  for  his  holy  spirit,  for  power  to  do  good,  and  be  good, 
and  that  power  will  certainly  come.  We  shall  be  lifted  out 
of  our  doubts,  our  anxiety,  our  fear  of  evil,  and  be  inspired 
with  courage,  hope  and  power. 

To  meet  together  in  the  name  of  Christ,  means  to  meet 
for  the  purpose  of  doing  good  and  getting  good.  It  is  not 
always  in  churches  that  men  really  meet  in  the  name  of 
Christ.  They  may  bow  to  his  crucifix,  but  with  spiritual 
pride  in  their  souls  ;  they  may  bend  the  knee  when  his 
name  is  mentioned,  but  only  with  satisfaction  at  their  own 
superior  piety.  They  may  utter  loud  responses,  but  with 
no  heart  in  them.  When  pride,  bigotry,  sectarianism,  enter 
the  church,  Christ  goes  out  of  it.  Those  who  think  to 
exalt  him  by  denouncing  those  who  do  not  believe  about 
him  as  they  do,  treat  him,  says  a  great  writer,  as  their  pro- 
totypes treated  him  at  first.  "  They  bow  the  knee  and 
spit  on  him  ;  they  cry  '  Hail ! '  and  smite  him  on  the  cheek. 
They  crown  him ;  but  it  is  with  thorns.     They  cover  with 


yO  IN   HIS    NAME. 

purple  the  wounds  which  their  own  hands  have  inflicted  ; 
and  inscribe  magnificent  titles  over  the  cross  where  they 
have  fixed  him  to  perish  in  ignominy  and  pain." 

But,  meantime,  while  the  church  may  be  empty  of  Christ, 
others  may  be  really  meeting  in  his  name,  and  making  a 
true  church,  outside  of  formal  and  nominal  Christianity. 
While  the  Church  of  England  was  asleep  in  decent  cere- 
monies, Wesley  and  his  friends  were  creating  a  true  church 
of  Christ  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  and  in  the  woods  and 
fields,  where  two  or  three  met  in  his  name.  While  the 
Romish  church,  in  its  splendor,  wealth  and  power,  was 
preaching  crusades  against  heretics,  and  inflicting  untold 
tortures  on  innocent  women  and  children,  a  few  peas- 
ants met  in  the  recesses  of  the  Alps,  under  the  shadows 
of  the  everlasting  hills,  to  worship  God,  who  is  a  spirit, 
in  spirit  and  truth.  Where  the  spirit  of  Christianity  is, 
there  is  the  coming  of.  Christ.  Not  in  crowds,  nor  in  meet- 
ings reported  in  newspapers,  but  where  a  cup  of  cold  water 
is  given  in  simple  good  will,  or  two  or  three  unite  in  any 
good  work,  or  the  widow  puts  two  mites  into  the  treasury 
of  some  charity,  or  the  poor  woman  takes  an  orphan  out  of 
the  street  to  take  care  of  it,  or  the  black  women  of  Africa 
give  Mungo  Park  a  drink  of  milk,  or  a  hand  of  help  is 
held  out  to  the  helpless,  there  is  the  work  done  in  "  the  name 
of  Christ." 

Therefore,  when  Peter  said  to  the  lame  man,  "  In  the 
name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  rise  and  walk,"  he  did  not  utter 
these  words  as  a  charm.  But  he  thus  openly  avowed  his 
faith  in  the  Master  he  had  denied  a  few  weeks  before,  and 
the  man  was  healed,  not  by  the  magic  of  words,  but  by  the 
wonderful  power  which  attends  a  sincere  faith  in  God.  So 
Peter  himself  says,  "  You  must  not  think  we  cured  this 
man  by  any  power  of  our  own,  but  his  name,  by  faith  in 
his  name,  hath  given  him  this  perfect  soundness  in  the 


IN   HIS   NAME.  71 

presence  of  you  all."  Not  the  word  Jesus,  but  the  faith  in 
Jesus  cured  him.  Not  the  word,  but  the  thing,  makes  the 
power  of  Christianity. 

When  I  see  a  man  walking  the  road  of  duty,  faithful  to 
every  obligation  ;  true  and  just,  when  those  around  him  are 
false  ;  when  I  see  him  hold  his  principles  of  honesty, 
though  the  world  grows  dishonest  and  refusing ;  to  join 
rings  and  political  lobbies,  but  standing  by  his  purity,  no 
matter  what  comes ;  then  I  say  that  this  man  is  casting  out 
devils  "  in  Christ's  name." 

And  when  I  see  a  youth,  beset  by  temptations  from  with- 
out and  within,  making  a  brave  struggle  to  be  true  to  his 
mother's  counsels  and  his  father's  honor,  and  saying  to  the 
Satan  who  tempts  him  to  go  astray,  "Get  thee  behind 
me,"  I  say  that  this  boy  also  is  fighting  devils  "  in  Christ's 
name." 

And  when  I  see  a  young  girl,  in  the  midst  of  a  happy 
home,  surrounded  by  love,  called  to  leave  life  and  all  its 
hopes,  and  go  to'  meet  the  great  mystery,  and  going  tran- 
quilly, peacefully,  trustingly,  comforting  all  around  her 
with  the  comfort  wherewith  she  herself  has  been  comforted 
by  God,  I  say  that  she  is  going  to  heaven  in  the  strength 
"  of  Christ's  name." 

The  name  of  Christ  stands  for  immortality,  for  he  is  the 
resurrection  and  the  life.  He  puts  into  the  human  soul 
that  living  conviction  of  the  reality  of  God  which  makes 
eternity  real,  and  time  unreal ;  which  makes  us  say  "  The 
things  that  are  seen  are  temporal,  the  things  not  seen  are 
eternal ! " 

The  name  of  Jesus  Christ  means  Saviour  and  King.  Jesus 
means  Saviour,  Christ  means  King,  and  the  whole  means 
that  he  who  saves  men  is  the  King  of  men.  It  means  that 
love  is  to  conquer  hatred,  that  truth  is  mightier  than  false- 
hood, life  than  death,  eternity  than  time.    To  believe  in 


72  IN   HIS   NAME. 

the  name  of  Christ  is  to  believe  that  the  principle  which 
he  embodied,  the  life  he  manifested,  are  to  be  triumphant. 
And  this  is  the  faith  which  enables  us  to  cast  out  devils, 
and  rise  superior  to  evil.  It  is  the  victory  which  overcomes 
the  world. 


VIII. 

IF  ANY  MAN  BE  IN  CHRIST,  HE  IS  A  NEW  CREATURE. 

"Therefore,  if  any  man  be  in  christ,  he  is  a  new  creature; 
old  things  have  passed  away;  behold,  all  things  are 
become  new."  £  .  /  ? 

WHEN  the  Apostle  Paul  said  this,  I  suppose  he  was 
thinking  of  himself.  What  a  different  man  he 
had  become  since  he  was  a  Christian  !  I  do  not  wonder 
that  he  thought  himself  a  new  man,  a  different  creature 
from  what  he  was  before  ;  almost  a  new  creation  by  the 
Almighty  Maker.  How  many  old  things  had  passed  away  ; 
how  many  new  things  had  come  !  His  whole  manner  of 
thought  had  been  revolutionized.  Before,  he  was  a  Phar- 
isee, zealous  for  the  law  ;  a  Ritualist,  believing  in  sacra- 
ments and  ceremonies.  Now,  he  had  broadened  out  so 
that  he  could  say,  "  In  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision 
availeth  anything,  nor  uncircumcision  ;  but  Faith  working 
by  Love."  Before,  he  was  on  the  highway  to  position  and 
honor  in  the  Jewish  Church  ;  now,  he  was  hated  and  reviled 
as  an  apostate  by  all  his  old  friends.  He  was  of  the  stock 
of  Israel,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  a  Hebrew  of  the  He- 
brews — blameless  in  all  the  righteousness  of  the  law.  Now, 
he  was  glad  to  throw  away  position,  influence,  honor,  world- 
ly hopes,  in  order  to  become  one  with  Jesus.  It  must  have 
seemed  to  him  a  thousand  years  since  he  was  a  fierce  and 
bigoted  Jew,  fighting  for  ceremonies,  arguing  about  ritual. 
He  had  entered  a  new  world  of  thought  and  life.     The 

(73) 


74  IF  ANY   MAN   BE   IN   CHRIST, 

Pharisee,  the  formalist,  the  pedant,  were  far  behind  j  Je- 
hovah had  disappeared  ;  the  Heavenly  Father  had  come. 
The  Jew,  narrowed  into  his  own  small  pride  of  sect,  had 
gone  ;  all  mankind  were  now  his  brethren.  He  had  broth- 
ers and  sisters  now  among  the  Ephesians,  Galatians,  the 
pleasure-loving  people  of  Corinth,  the  brilliant  Athenians, 
the  strong  and  grave  Romans.  He  had  passed  through 
all  the  porticos  and  vestibules  of  religion,  and  entered  its 
inmost  shrine,  and  found  it  to  be  Love.  And  so  Paul  may 
have  well  said,  "  If  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new 
creature  ;  old  things  have  passed  away  ;  behold,  all  things 
have  become  new." 

But  notice  the  stress  laid  by  the  apostle,  here  and  else- 
where, on  that  little  preposition,  "  in."  It  is  to  be  in  Christ 
which  makes  one  a  new  creature.  So  he  says,  "  My  wish 
is  that  I  may  be  found '  in  him  ;  "  and  in  another  place, 
"  When  God  revealed  his  son  in  me." 

It  is  one  thing  to  be  with  Christ,  and  another  thing  to 
be  in  him.  If  we  had  been  with  Christ  when  he  was  walk- 
ing the  streets  of  Capernaum  or  Jerusalem,  we  might  not 
have  cared  much  about  it.  Many  who  were  with  him  grew 
tired  and  went  back,  and  "  walked  no  more  with  him." 
We  might  have  done  the  same.  ,Nicodemus  was  with  him 
one  evening,  and  had  a  long  conversation  with  Jesus,  but 
does  not  seem  to  have  come  again.  Judas  was  with  Jesus, 
during  all  his  ministry,  and  then  betrayed  him.  We  are  all 
of  us  with  Jesus,  in  a  certain  sense,  by  being  taught  about 
him  from  childhood,  by  growing  up  in  the  midst  of  a  Chris- 
tian society,  by  hearing  Christianity  preached  from  Sunday 
to  Sunday,  by  enjoying  the  blessings  of  a  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. But  we  are  not  necessarily  in  sympathy  or  union 
with  him  on  that  account.  Our  purposes  may  be  very  dif- 
ferent from  his.  Contiguity  is  not  union.  We  can  be 
with  people  all  our  lives,  and  never  be  in  them,  never  know 


HE   IS   A   NEW   CREATURE.  75 

what  is  passing  in  the  depths  of  their  souls.  How  often 
parents  and  children,  brothers  and  sisters,  husbands  and 
wives,  live  together,  side  by  side,  for  years,  in  utter  igno- 
rance of  each  other's  inmost  thoughts,  interests,  sorrows, 
experiences  and  hopes.  They  do  not  understand  each 
other  at  all ;  for  it  is  mutual  love,  not  proximity,  which  leads 
to  mutual  knowledge. 

Nor  is  it  enough  even  to  be  strongly  attached  to  others, 
and  clingingly  devoted  to  them.  That  does  not  necessarily 
produce  real  union.  We  may  cling  to  them  externally,  yet 
never  be  in  them,  never  understand  them,  never  get  a 
glimpse  of  the  real  secret  of  their  lives.  Strong  affection 
is  not  enough.  I  have  seen  such  a  friendship  —  as  people 
called  it  -r-  between  two  boys  or  two  girls.  One  was  so 
attached  to  the  other,  clung  to  her  so,  that  she  could  hardly 
bear  to  be  out  of  her  sight.  Yet  she  had  no  real  union 
with  her,  and  had  no  idea  of  her  friend's  character,  and 
could  not  really  sympathize  with  it.  It  was  the  sort  of 
feeling  with  which  a  snail  sticks  to  the  rock,  or  a  barnacle 
to  a  ship's  bottom  —  because  they  need  something  strong 
and  solid  to  cling  to.  But  as  to  the  nature  of  the  rock  or 
the  ship,  or  where  the  ship  is  going,  or  what  is  its  use  and 
purpose  —  of  this  they  know  nothing.  To  cling  to  anothel 
for  our  own  comfort  is  not  to  be  in  him. 

So  some  persons  cling  to  Jesus  —  for  their  own  salvation. 
Weak  in  themselves,  they  need  something  to  hold  them  up. 
They  may  cling  thus  to  Christ  for  salvation,  and  see  some- 
thing of  his  real  character  and  divine  glory,  and  then  they 
are,  so  far,  really  united  with  him  in  love.  Or  they  may 
cling  merely  for  their  own  sake,  only  to  be  saved.  Then, 
when  they  sing 

"  Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  thee  " 


y6  IF   ANY   MAN   BE    IN    CHRIST, 

they  are  only  in  a  cleft  of  the  rock  ;  still  on  the  outside  of  it, 
,  only  superficially  connected  with  it.  They  know  no  more,  in 
reality,  of  the  Rock  of  Ages  than  the  snail  knows  of  the 
structure  of  the  granite  ledge  to  which  he  adheres.  •  They 
have  not  entered  into  the  mind  of  Christ,  or  the  heart 
of  Christ,  at  all. 

Nor  is  it  enough  to  have  a  great  deal  to  say  or  to  do 
about  Christ  in  order  to  be  in  him.  You  may  spend  your 
life  in  talking  about  him,  preaching  about  him,  using  his 
name  on  all  occasions,  and  yet  be  in  no  real  union  with 
him.  During  the  late  Presidential  campaign,  there  were 
many  prominent  leaders  of  the  Republican  party  who  went 
through  the  States  making  speeches  in  its  behalf,  who  yet 
had  not  the  least  sympathy  with  its  ideas.  So  the  Apostle 
Paul  tells  us  that  men  may  preach  with  the  tongues  of 
men  and  of  angels  about  Christ,  but,  because  there  is  no 
real  love  for  him  in  their  hearts,  they  are  like  sounding 
brass.  Men  may  fight  for  him,  and  die  for  him,  and  not 
be  in  him.  The  crusaders  who  went  to  Palestine  to  die 
under  the  banner  of  the  cross  were,  many  of  them,  in  no 
sympathy  with  him.  The  monks,  who  gave  up  all  their 
wealth  and  went  into  convents,  were  not  necessarily  in 
sympathy  with  Christ.  Even  the  martyrs  who  died  in  his 
name  may  not  always  have  been  in  real  sympathy  with 
him,  for  Paul  assumes  this  to  be  possible  when  he  says, 
"  Though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and 
though  I  give  my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not  love,  it 
profiteth  me  nothing." 

To  be  in  Christ,  we  must  love  him.  But  love  means 
much  more  than  blind  affectionate  instincts,  or  clinging 
attachments,  or  sudden  emotions.  It  is  far  more  noble 
than  that.  It  is  that  flame  in  the  soul,  caught  by  the  sight 
of  superior  beauty  and  truth  and  good,  which  animates  and 
elevates  one's  whole  being,  bringing  one  into  harmony  with 


HE   IS   A    NEW    CREATURE.  77 

the  ideas  of  those  we  love.  It  implies  some  intelligent 
sympathy,  however  small,  with  their  best  aims  and  purposes. 
Love,  true  love,  attaches  itself  to  that  which  is  better,  nobler, 
higher,  than  what  we  have  in  ourselves.  Love  looks  up  to 
receive  a  higher  influence,  to  be  inspired  by  a  purer  life. 
Love  must  elevate  us,  or  it  is  not  really  love. 

If  so,  you  may  say,  how  can  there  be  mutual  love  ?  how 
can  two  persons  really  love  each  other  ?  since  if  neither  is 
better  than  the  other,  there  can  be  love  on  neither  side  ; 
and  if  one  is  better  than  the  other,  then  only  the  lower 
nature  can  love  the  higher.  Thus  it  would  seem  there  can 
be  no  such  thing  as  mutual  love.  The  answer  is,  that 
each  may  have  some  quality  higher  than  the  other.  God 
has  made  us  different,  to  this  end,  that  each  may  be  a 
revelation  of  some  truth,  beauty,  good,  to  another  mind. 
He  has  made  every  one  of  us  capable  of  manifesting  some 
special  grace,  some  peculiar  charm  of  sweetness,  or  noble- 
ness, or  truth.  He  has  made  every  one  of  us  capable  of 
manifesting  something  of  God's  divine  beauty  to  our  fellow- 
men,  and  when  we  really  love,  it  is  because  we  see  that, 
and  love  that.  We  see  and  love  something  of  "God^ 
manifest  in  the  flesh.'' 

We  read  that  Jesus  "  loved  Martha,  and  Mary,  and 
Lazarus, v  and  that  having  loved  his  own  disciples,  "he 
loved  them  even  to  the  end."  This  was  not  merely  with 
the  love  of  pity  and  compassion,  but  of  personal  commu- 
nion, for  he  prayed  that  they  might  "  be  in  him  and  he  in 
them,"  and  so  "  be  made  perfect  in  one."  It  is  the  privi- 
lege and  power  of  the  higher  nature  to  be  able  to  find 
hidden  qualities  of  good  in  the  lower.  The  heavenly  mind 
of  Jesus  could  discover  seeds  of  good,  elements  of  beauty, 
in  Peter,  James,  John,  which  no  one  else  then  saw,  and 
which  they  did  not  see  themselves.  As  he  was  God  mani- 
fest in  the  flesh  to  them,  so  they,  in  a  lower  measure,  were 


78  IF   ANY   MAN    BE   IN    CHRIST, 

God  manifest  in  the  flesh  to  him  ;  not  by  their  attainments, 
but  by  the  special  divine  spark  of  heavenly  fire,  which  the 
Creator  had  originally  placed  in  each  of  their  souls.  He 
loved  that  in  each  of  them. 

Modest  persons  sometimes  wonder  what  others  can  see 
in  them  to  love ;  for  they  see  nothing  in  themselves  but 
weakness,  folly,  and  faults.  But  love,  if  it  be  true,  never 
makes  a  mistake.  It  penetrates  to  the  mysterious  centre 
of  another's  being,  deeper  than  any  plummet  ever  sounded  ; 
it  detects  in  us  capacities  for  good,  secrets  of  excellence, 
unknown  to  ourselves,  and  which,  alas !  we  may  never 
unfold.  If  it  sees  a  mere  glimpse  of  what  is  noble,  if  it 
has  ever  so  inadequate  a  perception  of  what  is  good,  then 
it  is  love,  then  it  unites  us  intimately  and  interiorly  with 
another  soul. 

True  love,  therefore,  because  it  sees  something  of  God 
in  another  soul,  partakes  of  reverence,  is  grave  and  earnest, 
and  has  a  religious  seriousness  in  it.  It  is  a  step  upward 
towards  the  love  of  God,  for  he  who  loveth  not  his  brother, 
whom  he  hath  seen,  how  shall  he  love  God  whom  he  hath 
not  seen  ?  Love  for  God  is  not  a  blind  sentiment,  but  an 
affection  created  in  the  soul  by  the  sight  of  an  infinite 
beauty,  above  all,  through  all,  and  in  all. 

If  any  man  loves,  he  is  in  the  person  he  loves.  He  has 
entered  into  his  soul,  and  has  something  of  his  spirit. 

If  any  man  loves  Christ,  he  is  in  Christ,  because  he  has 
something  of  Christ's  spirit,  and  is  a  new  creature.  He 
has  something  added  to  him,  or  developed  out  of  him, 
that  was  not  there  before. 

All  of  us  who  are  born  and  brought  up  in  Christian 
lands,  are  born  and  brought  up  with  Christ.  We  are  with 
him  when  we  hear  about  him,  read  the  gospels,  go  to 
church,  and  have  an  intellectual  belief  in  his  religion.  But 
we  are  not  in  him  till  we  love  what  he  loved,  share  his  con- 


HE    IS   A   NEW    CREATURE.  79 

victions,  imbibe  his  spirit,  and  do  what  he  did.  We  are  in 
Christ  when  we  love  him  ;  he  is  in  us  when  we  put  his 
spirit  into  our  actions.  For  "  if  any  man  have  not  the  spirit 
of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his." 

There  is  nothing  sudden,  nothing  artificial,  about  this. 
This  change  is  as  natural  as  that  by  which  "the  blood  re- 
news the  body ;  the  body  seeming  to  continue  the  same, 
but  always  becoming  different.  It  is  a  growth,  and  all 
growths  are  gradual.  Conversion  is  always  sudden,  for  it 
is  simply  turning  round.  But  regeneration  is  gradual,  for 
it  is  a  growth.  Paul  was  converted  in  a  moment,  on  his 
way  to  Damascus.  He  changed  his  mind  about  Christi- 
anity. He  began  a  new  life.  But  it  took  him  a  long  time 
to  become  a  Christian.  He  was  blind  for  several  days, 
thinking  about  it.  Then  he  had  to  be  taught  by  Ananias. 
Then  he  went  into  Arabia,  and  stayed  three  years,  during 
all  which  time  he  was  thinking  out  these  new  ideas,  and 
growing  into  a  new  creature.  And  so  by  slow  degrees, 
Saul,  the  Pharisee,  changed  into  Paul,  the  Christian. 

In  all  such  changes  the  crisis,  may  be  sudden,  but  the 
development  is  gradual.  See  how  a  tree  grows  from  its 
seed,  and  becomes  a  new  creature.  See  how  Winter  melts 
into  Spring  and  all  things  are  new  created.  See  how 
changes  come  into  society,  manners,  law,  education,  civil- 
ization. What  struggles,  what  reactions,  what  gradual 
creeping  up  of  the  tide  on  the  sand,  wave  after  wave  ad- 
vancing and  receding !  Thus  slow,  by  imperceptible 
growth,  is  the  advance  into  all  true  life.  And  so,  if  we 
are  in  Christ,  we  find  that  old  things  have  gradually  passed 
away,  and  that  all  things  have  gradually  become  new. 

Thus,  if  we  are  in  Christ,  we  grow  into  new  convictions. 
Not  into  new  speculations  or  beliefs,  for  these  may  change 
suddenly,  or  may  not  change  at  all.  Belief  puts  us  with 
Christ,  but  not  in  him.     A  creed  is  like  a  carriage,  which 


80  IF   ANY    MAN    BE    IN    CHEIST, 

may  take  us  to  the  place  where  our  friend  is,  but  cannot 
put  us  into  communion  with  him.  But  if  we  are  in  Christ, 
we  have  new  convictions.  Spiritual  things  become  more 
real  to  us.  God  becomes  to  us  more  real.  Before,  the 
thought  of  God  was  a  solemn  one,  to  be  avoided  when  we 
were  cheerful,  but  a  duty  sometimes  to  recall.  We  ought  to 
think  of  him  sometimes,  and  we  tried  to  do  so,  tried  to  say 
our  prayers,  but  it  was  rather  hard.  Now,  to  our  surprise, 
we  find  it  to  be  very  natural  to  think  of  God,  and  that  the 
thought  gives  us-  pleasure.  He  seems  to  be  near  us  all 
day,  to  make  all  things  around  us  more  alive  and  fair. 

The  reason  is  that  by  sympathy  with  Christ  we  have 
come  to  feel  the  infinite  tenderness  of  God  filling  all  in 
all.  We  have  realized  that  his  love  comes  to  us  in  all 
our  joys,  so  that  when  we  see  a  friend,  or  hear  a  piece  of 
pleasant  news,  or  walk  in  the  glad  sunshine,  we  have  a 
sense  of  God's  goodness  in  it  all.  What  was  a  matter 
of  belief  before,  we  know  to  be  substance  and  reality.  It 
has  grown  into  our  life,  and  become  a  part  of  it. 

So,  also,  if  we  are  in  Christ,  we  grow  into  new  affections. 
A  change  of  heart,  as  it  is  called,  does  not  mean  any  new 
faculty  or  power  of  loving  implanted  in  us,  which  we  had 
not  before.  It  means  having  new  objects  of  love.  What 
we  did  before  merely  from  a  sense  of  duty,  we  now  do  with 
pleasure.  The  prophet  foretold  the  day  of  the  Messiah  as 
the  time  when  the  law  should  be  written  in  the  heart. 
There  is  pleasure  in  serving  God  when  God  seems  lovable. 
There  is  pleasure  in  following  Christ  when  Christ  seems 
lovable.  There  is  pleasure  in  helping  men  when  men 
seem  God's  children  and  our  brethren.  There  is  pleasure 
in  fulfilling  any  task  when  we  feel  inspired  and  helped  to 
do  it  by  the  spirit  of  God,  softly  breathing  strength  into 
our  souls.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  a  new  heart  —  to  love 
to  do  our  duties. 


HE   IS    A   NEW    CREATURE.  8 1 

So,  again,  the  Bible  is  a  new  book  if  we  are  in  Christ. 
I  recollect  the  time  when  the  Bible  seemed  to  me  the  most 
uninteresting  book  in  the  world.  It  was  covered  all  over 
with  law.  I  looked  at  it  as  a  kind  of  master  whom  I  ought 
to  obey.  Just  as  the  slave  feels  to  the  overseer  I  felt  to 
the  Bible.  I  thought  I  ought  to  read  it  —  so  I  did  ;  but 
only  the  surface  of  it.  It  seemed  wholly  apart  from  life, 
having  nothing  to  do  with  every  day,  nothing  of  home 
about  it.  Now  I  read  it  as  a  revelation  of  man  as  well  as 
God ;  as  a  revelation  of  myself.  I  go  to  it  as  the  Califor- 
nian  goes  to  the  field,  where  he  thinks  when  he  strikes 
down  his  spade  he  may  turn  up  a  shovelful  of  gold  sand. 
I  read  with  this  constant  expectation.  I  go  to  it,  not  as 
to  an  authority,  a  master,  but  as  to  a  book  compact  with 
human  life,  and  so  it  is  a  new  book  to  me. 
*  All  depends  on  how  you  come  to  the  Bible.  Suppose  I 
go  to  Pompeii  thinking  it  a  city  that  people  just  began  to 
build  last  year,  and  left  off  because  it  was  in  the  wrong 
place  ;  or  as  a  city  just  burnt  down,  with  the  walls  still 
standing.  There  would  be  no  interest  then.  But  go  realiz- 
ing its  past —  that  it  is  something  out  of  the  ancient  life  of 
Rome,  a  place  left  as  it  was  when  the  apostle  John  was 
yet  alive,  and  then  you  walk  through  those  lonely  streets 
and  into  those  empty  rooms  with  the  deepest  interest. 

If  you  stand  outside  of  the  Cathedral  of  Milan,  or  the 
Minster  of  Cologne,  and  look  on .  the  vast  windows  of  the 
choir,  they  seem  dark  and  dingy.  But  go  inside  and  let 
the  light  stream  through  them,  and  they  turn  into  emeralds 
and  sapphires  and  rubies,  and  are  gorgeous  with  the  forms 
of  saints  and  angels.  So  enter  into  a  book,  sympathize 
with  the  spirit  and  aim  of  its  author,  and  you  can  under- 
stand it.  We  call  the  Bible  a  supernatural  book.  I  call 
it  the  most  intensely  natural  book  ever  written.  It  is  a 
revelation  of  human  nature,  showing  its  motives  and  work- 

6 


82  IF   ANY   MAN    BE   IN    CHRIST, 

ings.  It  is  like  a  watch  with  a  transparent  dial,  through 
which  we  look  and  see  the  movement. 

Again,  if  we  are  in  Christ,  life  becomes  new.  Nothing 
prevents  life  from  seeming  old,  stale,  flat  and  weary,  like 
having  an  object  —  something  we  are  interested  in,  some- 
thing we  love  to  do.  The  higher  and  better  this  object  is, 
the  more  of  interest  it  adds  to  our  life.  Did  you  ever 
watch  a  beehive  and  see  the  interest  these  small  creatures 
take  in  their  work,  sailing,  full  freighted,  through  the  air, 
dropping  down  hastily  by  their  front  door,  and  how  they 
cannot  wait  for  each  other  to  go  in  ?  The  good  God  has 
put  into  the  hearts  of  these  little  things  such  an  ardor  of 
work  that  their  brief  lives  are  as  interesting  to  them  as 
possible. 

But  God  has  provided  better  things  for  us  than  for  bees 
and  ants  and  birds.  An  infinitely  deeper  and  richer  life 
may  be  ours,  only  we  have  to  find  it  for  ourselves.  We 
find  it  when  we  are  living  in  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Any  one 
who  is  doing  a  Christian  work  from  a  Christian  motive 
finds  life  becoming  interesting  to  him,  and  he  is  straitened 
till  it  be  accomplished."  There  is  no  end  to  the  joy 
and  freshness  of  existence,  if  we  can  have  Christ  in  our 
hearts,  and  be  in  his  heart,  by  drinking  his  spirit ! 

O  sacred  heart  of  Christ !  worshipped  by  Catholics  in 
their  prayers  !  if  we  could  only  understand  thee  aright, 
only  feel  the  infinite  longing  of  love  with  which  that  heart 
beats  for  us  all,  only  feel  how  Christ  comes  for  each  of  us 
to-day,  how  he  sends  help  which  we  never  know  of  into  our 
souls,  how  the  throbs  of  expectant  and  impatient  desire  for 
good  which  we  sometimes  feel  are  dropped  into  our  hearts 
by  angels  sent  from  him,  how  he  waits,  day  by  day,  looking 
for  us  to  come ! 

And  if  any  man  be  in  Christ,  death  is  new.  Death  has 
lost  its  terrors.     Why  be  afraid  to  die  ?     All  must  be  right 


HE   IS  A  NEW  CREATURE.  83 

and  all  good  which  comes  from  God.  We  are  going  home. 
The  boy  is  not  afraid  to  go  home  from  his  school.  He 
enjoys  his  school,  his  play,  his  study  ;  but  when  vacation 
comes  he  enjoys  going  home.  So  we,  knowing  how  Christ 
has  gone  to  make  a  home  for  us  above,  a  home  of  love, 
thought,  work,  of  everything  we  need,  cannot  be  very  sorry 
when  God  says,  Fall  asleep,  my  child,  and  you  shall  pres- 
ently awake  again  in  the  society  of  all  your  loved  and  lost 
ones,  and  with  that  dearest  of  all  friends  "  whom,  not  hav- 
ing seen,  you  love,  and  in  whom,  though  now  you  see  him 
not,  you  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory." 

I  do  not  close  this  discourse  with  any  exhortation  to 
"come  to  Jesus."  You  are  already  with  him  and  he  with 
you.  You  have  grown  up  with  him  and  been  taught  his 
words  from  the  first.  You  shall  also  be  in  him  by  partaking 
his  spirit  and  living  in  it,  if  you  are  willing  to  make  his 
objects  your  objects,  his  purposes  your  purposes,  his  work 
your  work.  His  work  is  to  help,  save  and  bless  his  breth- 
ren. Join  him  in  this  work,  and  you  will  come  to  love 
him,  and  he  shall  be  in  you  and  you  in  him.  You  shall 
come  into  conformity  with  him.  Use  your  power,  your 
gifts,  your  talents,  as  he  would  have  you,  then  you  are  his 
disciples.  Then  you  have  the  right  to  feel  that  he  is  your 
friend.  Then  you  will  find  more  sunshine  coming  into 
your  day,  more  love  into  your  heart.  Old  things  will  pass 
away,  all  things  will  become  new. 


IX. 


SPIRITUAL  MNEMONICS;  OR  RULES   FOR  IMPROVING 
THE  MEMORY. 

"  He  beholdeth  himself,  and  goeth  his  way,  and  straightway 
forgetteth  what  manner  of  man  he  was." 

IT  is  a  bad  thing  to  have  a  poor  memory.  What  a  dif- 
ference there  is  between  people  in  this  respect !  How 
little  impression  events  make  on  some  persons !  How 
easily  they  forget  names,  dates,  faces,  the  books  they  have 
read,  the  scenes  they  have  visited  !  And  how  wonderfully 
others  remember  all  these  things  !  Macaulay  could  repeat 
from  memory  books  he  had  read  when  he  was  a  boy ; 
could  repeat  the  who.le  of  "  Paradise  Lost,"  or  one  of  the^ 
books  of  Homer.  Indeed,  there  seems  to  be  hardly  any 
limit  to  the  power  of  memory.  A  professor  at  Padua  could 
repeat  verbatim  all  the  sermons  preached  in  Lent,  could 
remember  every  cast  and  move  in  games  of  dice  and  chess, 
and  had  in  his  mind,  ready  for  use,  20,000  passages  of 
civil  and  canon  law,  7000  of  Scripture,  and  many  more 
from  other  writers.  Generals  have  been  known  who  recol- 
lected the  name  of  every  soldier  in  their  army,  and  politi- 
cians who  could  call  by  name  every  man  to  whom  they 
had  been  introduced.  A  good  memory  is  the  necessary 
basis  of  all  intellectual  action.  I  think  the  time  will  come 
when  we  shall  know  how  to  educate  and  discipline  the 
memory,  and  keep  it  from  forgetting.     There  will  be  rules 

for  memorizing  and  systems  of  mnemonics  taught  in  our 
(84) 


SPIRITUAL   MNEMONICS.  85 

schools,  to  strengthen  the  memory  and  keep  it  in  a  healthy- 
condition. 

The  most  important  element  of  such  a  system  will  pro- 
bably be  to  form  a  habit  of  attention  with  the  purpose  of 
remembering.  Much  that  we  see  and  hear  and  read  we 
do  not  mean  to  remember,  at  all.  It  is  a  want  of  interest 
in  what  we  see  or  hear  which  causes  us  to  forget  it.  What- 
ever deeply  interests  us  we  have  no  difficulty  in  remember- 
ing, A  boy  forgets  the  errands  he  was  told  to  do,  forgets 
the  lessons  he  has  been  trying  to  study  ;  but  he  does  not 
forget  his  engagement  with  another  boy  to  go  a  fishing. 
How  we  recollect  times,  places,  scenes,  adventures,  experi- 
ences, in  which  our  whole  soul  was  interested !  I  have 
heard  a  woman  describing  the  last  days  of  her  husband's 
life,  or  that  of  her  child,  and  every  minutest  incident  was 
photographed  on  her  brain  —  all  his  last  words  and  looks, 
everything  the"  physicians  said,  or  friends  suggested,  or 
that  she  herself  had  done.  So  the  Evangelists  recollect 
and  record  all  the  sayings  of  their  master,  word  for  word. 
So  the  man  who  has  been  in  a  shipwreck,  or  a  railroad  ac- 
cident, or  a  battle,  describes,  with  intense  minuteness  and 
accuracy,  all  the  details,  till  it  rises  before  you  a  vivid  pic- 
ture, which  you  also  will  remember  always,  though  hearing 
it  at  second  hand.  The  stories  of  travellers  are  interesting 
for  the  same  reason,  because  the  novelty  of  the  scenes 
they  visit  rouses  their  attention,  and  the  vivid  impressions 
made  on  their  own  minds  excite  a  like  interest  in  ours.  We 
remember  that  in  which  we  are  interested,  because  we  give 
our  attention  to  it. 

But  when  we  are  not  interested  in  anything,  and  so  do 
not  give  our  attention  to  it,  we  are  sure  to  forget  it.  An 
uninteresting  speech  or  sermon,  as  we  say,  goes  into  one 
ear  and  out  of  the  other.  You  may  make  a  child  commit 
to  memory,  by  a  desperate  effort,  a  Ion    list  of  uninterest- 


86  SPIRITUAL   MNEMONICS. 

ing  names  in  history,  or  dates  in  chronology ;  but  you  can- 
not make  them  stay  in  his  memory.  Facts  and  lessons 
which  do  not  interest  us  are  like  the  plants  which  have  no 
root  in  themselves,  and  soon  wither  away.  I  heard 
a  worthy  gentleman,  the  other  evening,  arguing  that 
studies  ought  not  to  be  made  too  interesting,  because  boys 
and  girls  should  have  the  discipline  of  hard  work.  But 
who  works  the  hardest,  I  should  like  to  know,  he  whose 
heart  is  not  in  the  work,  and  who  has  to  force  himself  to 
do  it  by  main  strength  of  will,  or  he  who  enjoys  it  while  he 
does  it,  or  does  it  with  the  hope  of  future  joy.  It  is  hope 
and  joy  which  give  us  strength  to  work,  not  disgust  or  in- 
difference. The  hardest  intellectual  work,  perhaps,  which 
man  can  do,  is  playing  a  game  of  chess,  and  it  is  also  one 
of  the  most  interesting  of  purely  intellectual  exercises. 

But  we  weaken  the  memory  by  inattention,  which  results 
from  the  absence  of  a  deep  interest  and  a  living  purpose. 
If  we  read  for  mere  amusement,  without  the  expectation  or 
intention  of  recollecting  what  we  read,  we  weaken  the  mem- 
ory. Most  men  read  newspapers,  not  meaning  to  remember 
what  they  read,  not  selecting  what  they  wish  to  remember, 
and  so  they  are  really  cultivating  the  habit  of  forgetting.  I 
think  that  newspaper-reading  in  a  community,  during  two 
or  three  generations,  unless  it  be  balanced  by  some  oppo- 
site mental  practice,  will  sensibly  impair  the  memory  of  the 
nation. 

The  reason  why  we  do  not  recollect  faces  or  names  is 
that  we  do  not  take  an  interest  in  them.  We  scarcely  no- 
tice the  face  or  attend  to  the  name.  A  portrait  painter,  in- 
terested in  the  study  of  faces,  can  see  a  person  once,  and 
go  away  and  make  a  good  likeness  of  his  features. 

The  general  rule,  then,  for  improving  the  memory  is, 
"  Take  an  interest  in  anything,  and  you  will  attend  to  it ; 
attend  to  it,  and  you  will  recollect  it." 


SPIRITUAL    MNEMONICS.  8? 

But  what  cure  is  there  for  moral  forgetfulness  ?  Here  is 
a  man  who  forgets  all  the  lessons  of  experience.  He  com- 
mits the  same  faults  over  and  over  again.  Each  time,  he 
says  to  himself,  "  This  is  the  last  time ;  I  will  never  do  so 
again  ;  I  will  keep  my  resolutions  hereafter."  But  he  goes 
his  way,  and  straightway  forgetteth  what  manner  of  man 
he  is.     He  is  like  the  woman  of  whom  it  was  said  that 

"  Experience,  with  a  world  of  sighs 
Purchased,  and  groans  and  heart-break  have  been  hers. 
And  taught  her  nothing.     Where  she  erred,  she  errs." 

When  I  was  a  boy  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  our  mas- 
ter introduced  one  day  a  learned-looking  gentleman,  who, 
he  told  us,  had  come  to  teach  us  a  new  system  of  intellec- 
tual mnemonics.  The  word  was  new  to  us  and  its  sound 
was  rather  appalling ;  however,  we  found  it  only  meant  a 
system  of  artificial  memory.  The  good  gentleman  wished 
to  teach  us  how  to  help  our  memory  in  difficult  cases,  so 
that  we  might  remember  long  catalogues  of  kings  and  emi- 
nent persons,  recall  the  annals  of  a  nation,  and,  in  fine,  re- 
peat easily  the  dryest  tables,  historical,  chronological,  bio- 
graphical, geographical.  The  thing  was  done  by  help  of  the 
law  of  association.  We  first  fixed  in  our  mind  a  list  of  famil- 
iar objects,  and  then  associated  these  with  the  names  of  kings 
and  queens.  I  have  seen  many  other  similar  contrivances  for 
assisting  the  memory.  Intellectual  mnemonics  is  a  received 
science.  But  where  is  the  science  of  moral  and  spiritual 
mnemonics  ?  Who  shall  teach  the  conscience  to  remember 
its  duty  in  the  hour  of  temptation  ?  the  heart  to  remember 
its  best  love  when  drawn  aside  to  the  world  ? 

There  are  many  marked  instances  of  moral  forgetfulness 
which  show  the  importance  of  such  a  science  as  this.  We 
are  very  apt,  for  example,  to  forget  the  religious  and  moral 
truth  which  we  hear.  We  are  forgetful  hearers  of  the  Word. 


88  SPIRITUAL   MNEMONICS. 

Consider  the  quantity  of  church-going  there  is  —  the 
amount  of  preaching  ;  the  amount  of  sermons  a  man  hears 
in  his  life  ;  the  moral  instruction  which  has  been  poured 
into  our  ears  by  parents,  by  teachers,  by  preachers,  by  ex- 
horters  I  If  we  had  been  marble,  so  much  doctrine  falling 
on  us  should  have  worn  and  moulded  us  into  the  desirable 
form.  It  has  been  "  line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept, 
here  a  little  and  there  a  little."  What  a  singular  want  of 
memory  we  all  have  in  moral  and  religious  matters !  How 
we  forget  sermons,  however  eloquent,  splendid,  convincing ; 
in  a  week  they  have  fled  ;  like  the  early  dew  which  glittered 
in  ten  million  diamond  globes  on  the  grass  but  an  hour  ago, 
and  now  all  is  gone.  Where  is  all  the  instruction  which 
has  been  poured  into  our  ears  and  heart  from  childhood, 
by  ever-faithful  parents,  aunts,  sisters,  brothers ;  by  teach- 
ers, professors  and  guardians.  It  has  all  gone.  Ask  us 
about  these  systems  of  religion,  of  ethics,  of  morality,  of 
theology,  and  we  stand  helplessly  silent.  Again,  how  we 
forget  our  own  good  resolutions  !  We  arrange  our  life,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year,  into  a  perfect  order.  We  select 
the  faults  to  be  conquered,  the  virtues  to  be  acquired,  the 
studies  to  be  pursued,  the  good  actions  to  be  done.  At  the 
end  of  the  year  we  look  back  and  find  that  all  these  reso- 
lutions were  presently  forgotten,  and  we  went  on  as  before. 
Again,  we  forget  our  duties.  "  You  are  one  of  the  most 
perfect,  of  men,"  said  Lamb  to  Coleridge,  "  with  only  this 
one  slight  fault,  that  if  you  have  any  duty  to  do,  you  never 
do  it."  We  remember  everything  but  our  duties  —  these 
slip  from  our  memory  too,easily.  We  forget  our  promises 
and  engagements.  How  very  mortifying  to  find  that  we 
have  promised  to  do  a  multitude  of  things,  and  that  we 
have  forgotten  them  all !  We  think  we  shall  never  do  so 
again,  we  are  so  ashamed  of  it ;  but  directly  we  find  our- 
selves in  the  same  lamentable  condition.     So  at  last,  in 


SPIRITUAL    MNEMONICS.  89 

sheer  despair,  we  abstain  from  promising  anything,  think- 
ing it  better  not  to  vow,  than  to  vow  and  not  pay.  Alas  ! 
and  worse,  we  forget  the  kindnesses  done  to  us.  At  the 
time  we  feel  very  grateful,  but  gratitude  becomes  burden- 
some, and  so,  after  a  while,  we  have  forgotten  our  benefac- 
tors and  their  good  deeds.  How  little  we  think  of  those 
who  took  such  care  of  our  childhood,  who  devoted  them- 
selves to  protecting  us  from  outward  and  inward  evils,  who 
took  pains  to  help  us  when  we  had  no  claim  on  them,  who 
gave  us  their  good-will,  unbribed,  unbought.  We  forget 
them,  but  do  not  forget  those  who  have  injured  us,  who 
have  wounded  our  pride,  opposed  our  views,  uttered  some 
words  of  severe  censure  or  idle  satire.  Ah  !  we  remember 
all  that  too  well ;  "  the  deadly  arrow  adheres  to  our  side ;" 
we  treasure  up  for  years  the  very  words  of  every  supposed 
innuendo,  or  slight,  or  neglect;  we  remember  the  evil  and 
forget  the  good.  We  forget  the  holy  love  of  Christ,  the 
ever-present  providence  of  God,  the  impending  judgments 
of  the  future,  the  certain  retributions  of  conduct  and  eternal 
laws  of  heaven.  Who  shall  give  us  the  system  of  moral  and 
spiritual  mnemonics  by  which  to  remember  these  things  ? 

And  yet  these  truths  which  we  forget  are  the  all  impor- 
tant truths  which  we  need  most  of  all  to  remember.  And 
the  same  law  applies  to  those  spiritual  and  moral  truths 
which  we  have  seen  to  be  the  rule  for  the  memory  of  ex- 
ternal objects.  "  We  remember  that  to  which  we  give  our 
attention  and  we  give  our  attention  to  what  interests  us." 

The  difficulty  is  that  we  are  not  really  as  much  interest- 
ed in  the  love  of  God,  in  duty  and  spiritual  progress  as 
we  are  in  other  matters.  The  whole  world  of  spiritual 
realities  is  not  as  interesting  to  us  as  the  world  of  sight 
and  sense.  We  do  not  give  our  mind  to  these  highest  and 
noblest  objects,  as  we  do  to  the  others.  They  do  not  in- 
terest us,  that  is  why  we  forget  them. 


90  SPIRITUAL   MNEMONICS. 

It  is  a  law  of  constraint,  and  not  a  law  of  liberty,  by 
which  we  act.  That  is  why  we  forget  so  easily.  We  try 
hard  to  do  our  duties  because  we  think  we  ought,  and  that 
is  something  —  that  is  a  good  deal.  But  we  do  not  really 
care  for  them. 

But  we  have  all  seen  those  who  did  not  suffer  from  this 
fatal  want  of  memory.  Some  people  we  all  know  who 
never  forget  their  friends,  never  forget  their  work,  never 
forget  to  be  helpful  and  sympathizing,  whose  aid  is  always 
at  hand  when  it  is  wanted,  who  are  full  of  good  deeds  and 
overflowing.     How  is  it  that  they  remember  so  well  ? 

It  is  love  which  quickens  all  the  powers,  memory  among 
the  rest.  What  we  care  for  much  we  are  not  likely  to  for- 
get. Conscience,  solemn  and  austere,  is  the  great  lamp  of 
human  life,  but  it  is  not  the  chief  motor-power.  Without 
love  we  dawdle  over  our  duties,  we  postpone  them  till  to- 
morrow, we  forget  them,  we  excuse  ourselves  for  not  doing 
them. 

But  see  those  children,  that  youth  and  maiden,  who  have, 
as  we  say,  fallen  in  love  with  each  other.  Yesterday 
they  hardly  knew  each  other.  To-day,  they  can  think 
of  nothing  else'  but  the  strange,  sweet  attraction  which 
has  given  a  new  charm  to  their  lives.  No  danger  of  their 
forgetting  each  other ;  no  danger  of  their  forgetting  any 
engagement  they  make  to  meet.  No.  Every  act,  look, 
word,  is  graven  on  the  tablets  of  the  heart ;  every  scene 
where  they  have  met,  and  as  long  as  life  lasts  it  shall  not 
be  forgotten. 

Did  Dr.  Howe  ever  forget  his  blind  people  ?  Did  Mr. 
Garrison  ever  forget  his  slaves  ?  Did  Howard  ever  forget 
his  prisoners  ?  Did  Dorothea  Dix  ever  forget  her  insane 
persons  ?  Did  Florence  Nightingale  forget  the  sick  sol- 
diers ?  Did  Lincoln  forget  the  dangers  of  the  country 
which  he  served  ?     Or  did  Jesus  ever  forget  his  disciples 


SPIRITUAL    MNEMONICS.  91 

or  his  work  ?  No.  All  these,  having  loved  their  own, 
loved  them  to  the  end.  Where  the  heart  goes,  there 
memory  watches,  a  sleepless  sentinel,  ready  for  every  occa- 
sion. 

Only  to  hear  about  truth,  therefore,  profits  nothing.  We 
must  do  it  ourselves  in  order  to  know  it.  Lazy  acquies- 
cence in  another's  opinion  is  not  knowledge.  Easy  assent 
to  the  established  creed  is  not  belief.  Enthusiastic  ad- 
miration of  the  eloquence  of  some  favorite  teacher  is  not 
faith.  Truth  helps  no  one  who  has  only  heard  about  it. 
Truth  helps  those  only  who  see  it  with  their  own  eyes.  All 
that  we  can  do  by  preaching  is  to  testify  of  what  we  have 
seen  of  God  and  God's  truth,  that  others  may  be  moved 
to  look  at  it,  as  we  look  at  it.  Therefore  the  apostle  says, 
"  He  who  looketh  into  the  perfect  law  of  liberty."  To 
hear  one  talking  about  the  perfect  law  of  liberty  does  not 
help  you  unless  you  look  into  it  yourselves.  You  may  see 
your  face  reflected  in  his  words  as  in  a  glass,  but  when  you 
have  gone  away,  when  the  sound  of  these  words  grows 
faint  in  your  ears,  you  will  straightway  forget  what  sort  of 
a  person  you  are. 

Do  you  think  that  confessors,  martyrs,  heroes  of  the 
faith,  were  ever  made  by  listening  to  sermons  ?  No,  in- 
deed ;  but  by  one's  own  insight,  by  the  sure  knowledge  of 
the  truth  we  have  actually  seen  for  ourselves,  do  we  grow 
strong  and  brave,  and  not  otherwise. 

Until  we  are  doers  of  the  word,  as  well  as  hearers,  we 
are  like  the  clocks  and  watches  in  the  watchmaker's  shop. 
He  sets  them  all  to  the  right  time,  and  winds  them  up  ;  but 
till  he  touches  the  pendulum  and  sets  in  motion  they  can- 
not keep  time.  So  we  go  to  church  every  Sunday,  and  the 
minister  winds  us  up  by  convincing  arguments  and  by  the 
truths  of  the  gospel ;  and  then  he  appeals  to  our  feelings, 
and  touches  our  hearts,  and  we  are  set  exactly  right.     The 


92  SPIRITUAL    MNEMONICS. 

hour-hand  and  minute-hand  are  right  to  a  moment.  The 
moral  chronometer  is  regulated  to  a  second.  But  we  our- 
selves must  set  the  pendulum  in  motion,  and  begin  to  go ; 
else  what  does  it  profit  us  ?  To  be  set  right  and  regulated 
every  Sunday  morning,  what  use  is  there  in  that,  unless  we 
keep  going  through  the  week  ? 

Be  ye  doers  of  the  word,  and  not  hearers  only,  deceiving 
your  own  selves. 

When  we  are  hearers  and  not  doers,  we  deceive  ourselves. 
We  become  cased  around  externally  in  a  whole  system  of 
excellent  opinions,  which  is  like  an  outside  armor  ;  not 
making  any  part  of  our  own  real  life,  though  good  for  pro- 
tection against  any  outward  attack.  All  our  thoughts  are 
excellent,  our  ideas  of  duty  correct,  our  sentiments  noble  : 
we  take  the  highest  grounds  on  all  occasions.  But  this  is 
all  outside  of  our  central  life.  We  wash  our  hands,  but 
not  our  hearts.  We  make  clean  the  outside  of  the  cup  and 
the  platter.  Because  we  are  so  familiar  with  what  is  true 
and  right,  we  forget  at  last  what  manner  of  men  we  are. 
So  we  deceive  ourselves.  We  can  easily  mask  every  selfish 
motive  under  some  plausible  pretext  of  duty.  If  we  like 
to  do  anything,  we  can  always  show  that  it  is  our  sacred 
duty.     We  can  easily  prove  that  gain  is  godliness. 

All  this  comes  from  hearing  and  not  doing.  Hearing  the 
truth,  when  we  refuse  to  act  it  out,  ends  in  opinion,  and  opin- 
ion in  talk,  and  talk  in  self-deception.  There  is  a  good 
deal  of  cheating  in  the  world,  but  people  usually  cheat 
themselves  more  than  they  do  others.  We  repeat  by  rote, 
what  we  hear,  and  think  that  we  know  it.  We  talk  well 
and  imagine  that  we  are  what  we  say.  We  hear  a  truth, 
and  imagine  that  it  is  a  part  of  our  own  character.  So  we 
deceive  ourselves. 

The  man  who  is  only  a  hearer  deceives  himself.  He  thinks 
himself  a  better  man  for  listening  to  good  things.     Because 


SPIRITUAL    MNEMONICS.  93 

noble  sentiments  have  gone  through  his  head,  he  imagines 
himself  noble.  Because  he  has  listened  to  pious  senti- 
ments with  joy,  he  thinks  himself  pious.  Because,  away 
from  the  rush  of  life,  the  stress  of  business,  the  temptations 
of  the  shop*  and  street,  the  parlor  and  kitchen,  he  approves 
of  righteousness,  purity,  generosity,  patience,  he  thinks 
himself  to  have  those  qualities.  But  we  all  approve  good 
in  the  abstract.  It  by  no  means  follows  that  all  the  young 
ladies  who  admire  the  heroines  of  their  novels  are  capable 
of  being  heroines  themselves.  All  sentiment  must  be 
brought  to  the  test  of  action.  Hearing  good  things  and 
talking  well,  require  to  be  supplemented  by  work  ;  for  we 
really  do  not  know  any  truth  to  be  true  until  we  have  ap- 
plied it. 

The  divine  power  of  truth  can  only  be  realized  when  it 
is  put  into  action.  If  we  are  hearers,  but  not  doers,  we 
deceive  ourselves  and  the  truth  is  not  in. us. '  We  carry  the 
truth,  then,  in  our  memory,  perhaps  to  reproduce  on  great 
occasions.  But  we  have  not  ate  it,  nor  drank  it,  and  so 
made  it  a  part  of  ourselves.  Jesus  said,  "  You  must  eat 
me  and  drink  me,  or  I  shall  not  help  you."  We  must  eat 
and  drink  all  truth,  if  it  is  to  do  us  any  good.  Else  we  are 
only  forgetful  hearers.  Until  we  have  put  a  truth  into  ac- 
tion, we  do  not  really  know  it.  The  artist  may  study  colors 
and  forms  forever ;  but  until  he  tries  to  paint  a  picture  he 
is  only  a  dilettante  artist.  The  carpenter  may  hear  lec- 
tures on  the  use  of  tools,  but  till  he  learns  to  use  them  we 
do  not  call  him  a  carpenter.  The  youth  who  graduates  in 
a  law-school,  full  of  the  theory  of  law,  is  not  yet  a  lawyer. 
Do  anything,  and  you  come  to  know  it,  and  then  truth  be- 
comes knowledge  and  creates  love. 

We  have  in  Boston  a  "Free  Religious  Association,"  as 
it  is  called.  Yet  true  religion  is  always  free,  and  always 
sets  us  free.     It  is  a  law  of  liberty ;  liberty  and  law  in  one. 


94  SPIRITUAL    MNEMONICS. 

Religion  is  the  source  of  all  real  freedom,  for  true  freedom 
is  not  wilfulness,  but  self-direction.  And  we  can  only  di- 
rect ourselves  when  we  have  some  rule  or  law  by  which  to 
direct  ourselves ;  some  aim  of  life,  and  some  method  by 
which  to  pursue  that  aim.  But  if  we  pursue  earthly  ends, 
we  cannot  be  wholly  free.  The  politician  whose  aim  is 
earthly  office  or  power,  must  make  himself  the  servant  of 
the  people,  or  of  party  leaders  ;  it  will  not  do  for  him  to 
go  his  own  way.  Thus  also  the  ambition  for  position  in 
society  ;  for  literary  success,  for  wealth,  for  popularity  ;  all 
take  away  something  of  our  freedom.  But  religion  eman- 
cipates us  by  making  us  servants  of  conscience,  and  so 
setting  us  above  human  praise  or  censure.  That  is  the 
first  law  of  religious  liberty.  Then  it  emancipates  us  again 
when  it  makes  us  love  goodness  and  right.  This  is  the 
perfect  law  of  liberty.  Conscience  breaks  every  other 
chain  but  its  own.     Love  takes  off  that  chain,  also. 

The  rule  for  strengthening  the  memory,  then,  so  that  we 
shall  not  be  forgetful  hearers,  is,  first,  to  give  our  atten' 
tion  to  what  we  hear,  to  put  our  mind  into  it.  A  common 
phrase  in  English  is  "  to  mind  a  thing,"  meaning  "  to  re- 
member it."  Another  meaning  of  mind  is  to  obey. 
"  Mind  your  father  and  mother,  child  !  "  To  put  our  mind 
seriously  into  anything,  leads,  first  to  memory ;  next,  to 
action.  And  this  action,  if  we  continue  therein,  becomes 
at  last  interesting  for  its  own  sake,  and  so  we  make  it  a 
part  of  ourselves.  We  eat  it  and  drink  it,  and  it  enters 
into  our  life,  and  life's  most  secret  joy,  so  that  finally  we 
become  u  blessed  in  our  deed."  Thus  continued,  persistent 
attention,  given  to  what  is  true  and  right,  leads  to  action ; 
and  persistent,  continued  action,  leads  to  love.  And  love 
sets  us  free,  uniting  law  and  liberty,  and  causing  us  to  be 
blessed  in  our  deed. 

Put  your  mind,  then,  into  your  duties,  if  you  wish  to  re- 


SPIRITUAL    MNEMONICS.  95 

member  them,  and  to  enjoy  them.  Learn  to  believe  in 
them,  and  not  to  do  them  merely  because  they  are  duties. 
When  we  do  our  work,  do  any  work,  thus,  earnestly,  it  be- 
comes an  object  of  love.  So  our  rule  for  the  mnemonics 
of  morality  has  an  addition  to  it,  and  it  now  reads,  "  What- 
ever you  attend  to  you  will  remember  ;  whatever  interests 
you,  you  will  attend  to ;  and  whatever  you  do  with  your 
whole  soul,  that  you  will  come  to  take  an  interest  in." 

Whoever,  says  the  text,  is  a  doer  of  the  word,  and  not  a 
hearer  only,  is  blessed  in  his  deed  ;  that  is,  he  enjoys  it. 
He  enjoys  doing  it,  he  takes  an  interest  in  it ;  it  become  a 
part  of  his  life.  Do  with  your  might  whatever  your  hand 
finds  to  do.  Put  your  heart  and  thought  into  it,  not  merely 
the  ends  of  your  fingers.  Then  you  grow,  by  degrees,  to 
love  it,  and  when  you  love  to  do  your  work,  your  work  will 
be  its  own  reward,  and  its  own  satisfaction. 


rusriyi 


MERCY  AND  TRUTH  MEETING  TOGETHER. 
"  Mercy  and  truth  have  met  together." 

I  ONCE  read  in  the  papers  extracts  from  a  sermon  preach- 
ed in  San  Francisco,  by  Horatio  Stebbins,  on  the 
character  and  career  of  a  great  California  banker.  It  was 
an  acute  and  fair  analysis  of  the  man  and  the  influences 
which  made  him  what  he  was.  It  recognized  his  manliness, 
generosity,  brilliant  and  keen  faculties  ;  spoke  with  tender- 
ness of  his  faults  :  but  distinctly  saw  his  limitations.  In 
the  face  of  a  community  full  of  admiration  for  energy  and 
enterprise,  Mr.  Stebbins  pointed  out  the  essential  weak- 
ness and  littleness  of  this  splendid  materialism,  this  blind 
worship  of  the  senses.  He  considered  the  typical  Califor- 
nian,  made  by  California,  and  with  clearness  and  a  direct- 
ness which  no  one  could  misunderstand,  told  Californians 
how  their  own  lives,  their  own  defects  and  dangers,  were 
manifested  in  this  splendid  specimen  of  a  man  in  whom 
"  the  whole  universe  of  things  tapered  the  wrong  way." 

It  required  great  courage  to  say  all  this  in  San  Francisco, 
and  when  I  read  it,  I  said  to  myself,  "  Here,  for  once, 
mercy  and  truth  have  met  together  j  righteousness  and 
peace  have  kissed  each  other.  Here  is  a  man  who  speaks, 
as  the  day  of  judgment  may  be  expected  to  speak,  with  a 
light  which  will  illuminate  the  darkest  corner  of  the  soul  — 
an  infinite,  divine  light,  made  tender  by  an  infinite,  divine 
love." 

It  is  very  seldom  that  we  hear  things  said  in  this  way. 

(96) 


MERCY  AND  TRUTH  MEETING  TOGETHER.    97 

We  hear .  indiscriminate  flattery  and  eulogy  on  one  side, 
indiscriminate  condemnation  and  criticism  on  the  other. 
But  once  in  a  while  there  comes  a  voice  like  this,  strong 
and  calm,  without  passion,  without  prejudice,  finding  more 
good  in  a  man  than  his  best  friends  ever  saw,  saying  better 
things  in  his  praise  than  his  warmest  admirers  know  how 
to  say  ;  but  then  bringing  him  to  the  bar  of  absolute  truth 
and  right,  and  showing,  so  that  all  men  see  it,  his  essential 
radical  defects.  As  we  listen,  we  know  that  it  is  not  the 
critic  who  condemns  ;  it  is  Truth  itself  which  sentences  ; 
as  Jesus  said,  "  I  judge  him  not  ;  but  the  word  that  I  have 
spoken,  the  same  shall  judge  him  at  the  last  day." 

This  last  day,  this  day  of  judgment,  is  not  always  post- 
poned until  the  end  of  the  world.  There  comes  a  last  day, 
a  winding  up,  in  this  life,  to  many  men,  and  things.  False- 
hoods and  shams  glitter  and  shine  for  their  hour  ;  but 
finally  their  last  day  comes ;  then  they  explode  and  disap- 
pear. But  it  is  well  when  they  disappear,  that  some  voice 
at  once  friendly  and  honest,  shall  indicate  the  lesson  writ- 
ten in  their  history.  Cold,  hard,  merciless  severity  will 
not  do  ;  weak,  passionate  sympathy  will  not  do.  But  truth 
spoken  in  love  is  what  purifies  the  air  and  makes  the  world 
healthy  again. 

Theodore  Parker  was  not  usually  thought  to  put  much 
mercy  into  his  judgments.  He  was  often  terribly  severe 
on  those  who  took  views  opposed  to  his  own.  But  on  one 
occasion,  at  least,  mercy  and  truth  met  together  in  his 
final  criticism  on  a  great  opponent.  When  Daniel  Webster 
died,  not  one  of  his  idolatrous  admirers  painted  the  splendid 
faculties  and  original  majesty  of  his  mind  as  did  Theodore 
Parker.  He  described  him  as  Milton  described  the  Prince 
of  Hell  : 

"  With  Atlantean  shoulders  fit  to  bear 
The  weight  of  nations," 

7 


98    MERCY  AND  TRUTH  MEETING  TOGETHER. 

and  telling  how  Webster's  speech 

"  Drew  audience  and  attention  still  as  night 
Or  summer's  noontide  air." 

He  showed  how  he,  too,  had  honored  and  loved  that  king  of 
men  —  the  greatest  man,  intellectually,  New  England  ever 
produced  ;  how  he  too,  hid  "lived  in  his  mild  and  mag- 
nificent eye."  He  bent  himself  with  sad  sternness  to  his 
task  of  judgment,  as  a  Roman  judge  might  ascend  the 
tribunal  to  pronounce  sentence  on  his  father. 

We  need  men  like  this  —  men  who  can  be  just,  and  yet 
loving.  We  need  them  at  the  bar,  on  the  bench,  in  the 
pulpit,  in  the  editorial  chair.  We  need  them  to  keep  us 
from  drifting  into  a  state  of  public  opinion  in  which  there 
is  no  conscience,  no  sense  of  right,  no  reverence  for  the 
majesty  of  justice,  no  reliance  on  principle.  Those  men 
in  any  community  who  can  speak  the  truth,  but  speak  it  in 
love,  are  the  salt  of  society,  saving  it  from  rottenness  and 
ruin. 

There  is  always  truth  enough  in  the  world,  but  it  is  mer- 
ciless truth.  Men  are  quick  enough  to  see  the  faults  and 
sins  of  their  neighbors.  If  truth  is  merely  fault-finding, 
then  there  is  plenty  of  it  everywhere.  No  man  ever  com- 
mits a  sin  but  some  one  sees  it  and  points  it  out.  But 
this  truth  which  has  no  love  mixed  with  it  has  the  effect  of 
error.  It  is  the  nature  of  truth  to  convince ;  it  is  the 
province  of  truth  to  convert  —  to  make  people  see  what 
they  ought  to  be  and  to  do,  what  they  can  become.  It  is 
the  lever  to  lift  them  to  a  higher  plane,  to  awaken  the  pur- 
pose of  going  up,  to  give  new  aim  and  inspiration  to  the 
soul.  But  cold,  hard  truth  never  convinces  ;  it  only  pro- 
vokes. It  drives  men  away.  It  hardens  them,  instead  of 
converting  them.  It  seems  to  them  like  injustice,  cruelty, 
wrong.  Truth  without  love  has  therefore,  virtually  the 
effect  of  falsehood. 


MERCY  AND  TRUTH  MEETING  TOGETHER.    99 

It  is  often  said  that  men  are  seldom  converted  by  argu- 
ment or  controversy.  This  is  because  controversy  is  so  apt 
to  be  carried  on  in  a  spirit  of  coldness  and  hatred,  rather 
than  love.  Men  want  to  triumph  over  their  opponent,  to 
put  him  down,  not  to  help  him  up.  But  argument  and  dis- 
cussion ought  to  be  the  very  best  way  of  getting  new  light, 
of  correcting  our  errors,  of  making  progress.  It  will  be  so 
when  men  argue  with  entire  candor,  in  the  spirit  of  mutual 
respect,  with  a  desire  to  learn  as  well  as  to  teach  —  to  im- 
prove themselves  and  help  others. 

There  is  also  enough  love  in  the  world,  if  love  means 
only  kind  feelings,  weak  good-will,  which  is  too  full  of 
sympathy  to  see  the  faults  of  others  and  point  them  out, 
which  will  concede  or  suppress  truth  for  the  sake  of  peace. 

If  love  only  means  good-nature,  there  is  no  lack  of  it. 
How  very  good-natured  we  all  are  !  Men  commit  all  sorts 
of  crimes  :  they  swindle,  they  lie,  they  violate  sacred  trusts, 
and  almost  every  one  takes  them  by  the  hand,  and  treats 
them  as  if  it  were  nothing.  Pretty  soon  the  world  forgets 
all  about  it,  condones  the  transgression,  and  the  man  goes 
on  as  before.  This  is  all  very  good-natured,  no  doubt, 
but  is  it  love  ? 

No.  Love  which  has  no  truth  in  it  is  not  love,  but  real 
enmity.  To  treat  a  bad  man  as  if  he  were  not  bad,  is  a 
cruel  kindness.  It  puts  darkness  for  light,  and  light  for 
darkness  ;  bitter  for  sweet,  and  sweet  for  bitter.  It  con- 
founds moral  distinctions.  It  encourages  the  man  who 
might  be  cured  by  vigorous  remedies  to  go  on  from  bad  to 
worse  till  he  is  incurable. 

It  is  not  easy  to  unite  these  great  forces,  for  they  are 
polar  forces  and  antagonist.  A  truthful  man  tends  always 
to  be  too  hard  j  a  loving  man  tends  to  be  too  soft  and 
yielding.  It  is  so  with  churches.  Some  churches  empha- 
size truth;   make  sharp  the  distinctions  between  orthodoxy 


100        MERCY    AND    TRUTH    MEETING   TOGETHER. 

and  heresy  ;  between  heaven  and  hell ;  between  sin  and 
salvation  j  between  God  the  sovereign  and  man  the  crea- 
ture ;  between  this  world  and  the  world  to  come.  These 
religions  are  stern,  uncompromising,  almost  cruel.  But  they 
have  their  place  and  do  good,  until  something  better  comes 
which  can  give  us  a  truth  yet  more  divine ;  as  full  of  holi- 
ness, more  filled  with  benignity,  tenderness  and  pity. 
Some  other  churches  re-act  from  these  into  the  opposite 
extreme.  They  emphasize  love.  They  think  that  God 
does  not  lay  much  stress  on  opinions.  They  draw  no 
sharp  lines  between  truth  and  error.  No  matter  what  a 
man  believes,  they  say,  if  he  is  only  kind  and  ^ood-natured. 
They  are  very  liberal,  and  hospitable  to  all  creeds,  true  or 
false,  right  or  wrong. 

The  same  contrast  is  to  be  found  between  nations  and 
races.  The  southern  races  of  Europe  are  kindly,  affection- 
ate, and  have  an  attractive  good-nature,  but  they  tend  to 
falsehood.  They  are  not  much  afraid  of  lies.  They  will 
tell  any  number  of  lies  out  of  pure  kindness,  so  as  not  to 
hurt  your  feelings.  They  hold  it  a  duty  to  lie  if  it  will 
give  any  one  pleasure.  The  northern  races  are  more  truth- 
ful, sincere  and  honest  ;  but  they  are  not  so  agreeable. 
Their  sincerity  is  rough,  rude  and  harsh,  as  their  east  winds 
and  northern  storms. 

But  all  real  excellence  of  character  unites  the  two  ele 
ments.  What  is  a  gentleman  but  one  who  is  both  manly 
and  gentle  ;  like  Douglas,  "  tender  and  true  "  at  once  ?  No 
character  really  excels,  or  is  worth  anything,  in  which  the 
two  do  not  meet.  We  find  them  united  in  little  children, 
who  are  affectionate  and  loving,  and  yet  know  no  secrecy, 
no  disguise.  They  are  united  again  in  the  aged  and  wise, 
who  have  grown  benign,  yet  keep  their  knowledge  of  the 
world  ;  who  can  see  evil,  but  tolerate  and  forgive  ;  who  are 
not  deceived  by  appearances,  but  can  speak  the  truth  in 


MERCY  'AND  TRUTH  MEETING  TOGETHER.   IOI 

love.  In  childhood  which  is  un perverted ;  in  age  which  is 
full  of  wisdom  ;  mercy  and  truth  meet  together,  righteous- 
ness and  peace  kiss  each  other. 

In  good  society  the  same  is  true.  In  low  and  bad  society 
people  are  either  rude  or  deceitful.  They  are  either  too 
rough  or  too  smooth.  They  wheedle  or  natter,  or  else  they 
scold.  People  who  scold  usually  say  what  they  think : 
they  are  truthful  enough,  but  the  truth  is  uttered  so  brutal- 
ly as  to  do  no  good.  It  produces  no  conviction,  but  rather 
resentment.  But  the  manners  of  civil  society  are  both 
honest  and  kind.  The  spirit  is  frank,  candid,  independent ; 
but  also  good-natured.  It  makes  us  feel  at  home.  It  re- 
moves all  impediments  from  the  easy  flow  of  thought.  It 
welcomes  all  opinions,  and  is  hospitable  to  all  varieties  of 
taste  and  humor. 

Wherever  this  spirit  exists,  it  makes  good  manners. 
The  sign  of  it  is  that  all  feel  free  ;  all  are  drawn  out 
of  themselves,  and  are  able  to  do  their  best.  Good  so- 
ciety puts  every  one  at  his  best.  It  allows  no  despot- 
ism or  monopoly  in  conversation  ;  it  does  not  permit  a 
monarchy  or  aristocracy,  but  is  wholly  democratic.  The 
sign  of  good  manners  is  to  treat  all  with  equal  respect. 
The  real  gentleman  and  lady  are  to  be  found  among  rich 
and  poor,  high  and  low  ;  wherever  honesty  is  joined  with 
kindness ;  wherever  mercy  and  truth  meet  together.  Gen- 
teel society  may  not  always  be  gentle  ;  sometimes  it  only 
has  an  artificial  surface  of  polish  over  a  very  coarse  and 
hard  interior. 

It  is  often  very  hard  to  join  mercy  and  truth  in  conduct. 
We  wish  to  tell  the  truth,  but  it  will  hurt  people's  feelings  ; 
shall  we  tell  it,  then,  or  not  ?  Here  is  a  good  man,  who 
has  been  led  to  a  bad  action  ;  shall  we  expose  him  for  the 
sake  of  truth,  or  connive  at  its  concealment  for  the  sake  of 
love  ?     Here  is  a  man  in  some  public  office  for  which  he  is 


102   MERCY  AND  TRUTH  MEETING  TOGETHER. 

manifestly  unfit.  But  his  salary  is  the  only  support  of  his 
family,  who  would  suffer  if  he  lost  his  position.  Justice  to 
the  community  demands  that  he  be  removed ;  sympathy 
for  his  wife  and  children  persuades  that  he  be  retained. 
Here  is  a  young  woman,  a  teacher,  who  supports  herself 
and  her  aged  mother  by  hard  work.  She  is  good,  but  a 
poor  teacher.  Justice  to  the  children  requires  that  she  be 
dismissed  ;  but  pity  pleads  that  she  be  let  remain.  In  most 
of  these  cases  justice  goes  to  the  wall.  Sympathy  for  per- 
sons is  very  apt  to  be  too  strong  for  the  abstract  sense  of 
right.  A  whole  school  of  children  -are  sacrificed  to  a  bad 
teacher ;  the  interest  of  all  the  stockholders  in  a  corpora- 
tion is  sacrificed  to  our  sympathy  for  some  inefficient  offi- 
cial ;  public  morals  are  sacrificed  because  we  will  not  tell 
the  truth  about  some  good-natured,  kind-hearted  man, 
whose  course  has  been  bad  and  wrong.  But  there  ought 
to  be  somewhere  some  one  to  tell  the  truth  on  these  oc- 
casions, and  I  am  glad  when  a  man  can  be  found,  like  our 
friend  in  California,  who  can  say  what  all  men  know,  but 
no  one  else  is  willing  to  say,  and  yet  say  it  in  tenderness. 
These  men  are  the  chivalry  of  our  time — the  Douglases, 
"  tender  and  true." 

It  is  reported  by  Herodotus  that  Amasis,  King  of  Egypt, 
was  a  wild  boy,  and  did  wrong  things,  for  which  some  of 
the  priests  and  oracles  rebuked  him,  but  others  condoned 
his  faults  because  he  was  a  prince.  But  when  he  became 
king,  he  deposed  the  priests  and  oracles  which  had  flatter- 
ed him  and  paid  honors  to  those  who  had  condemned  him. 
"  For,"  said  he,  "  what  is  the  good  of  oracles  which  will 
not  tell  the  truth  ? "  So  Jesus  says,  "  If  the  salt  have  lost 
its  savor,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted  ?  "  The  salt  for  our 
society  is  found  in  the  teachers  of  truth,  in  public  life  or 
private  ;  especially  independent  pulpits,  independent  jour- 
nals, independent  judges  and  courts  pf  Jaw,  independent 


MERCY   AND       1RTII    MEETING   TOGETHER.       IO3 

statesmen,  and  independent  thinkers  and  scholars.  Poli- 
ticians are  weak  and  yield  to  public  opinion  ;  but  we  must 
have  something  fixed,  something  which  will  not  yield  to  the 
currents  and  eddies  of  opinion ;  some  fixed  mark,  which 
can  look  on  tempests  and  not  be  shaken. 

It  is  hard  to  speak  the  truth  in  love  ;  hard  to  know 
when  to  speak  the  truth  and  when  not,  when  to  give  way  to 
sympathy  and  when  to  refuse.  James  Walker  preached  a 
famous  sermon  on  the  text,  "Thou  shalt  say  No."  It  is 
often  very  hard  to  say  no,  when  it  seems  so  easy  and  sim- 
ple and  good-natured  a  thing  to  say  yes.  But  we  must  have 
the  courage  to  do  it. 

This  conflict  between  truth  and  love  is  sometimes  pre- 
sented to  us  as  a  problem  in  ethics.  If  a  robber  asks  me 
which  way  his  victim  has  gone,  shall  I  tell  a  lie  and  deceive 
him,  or  not?  Shall  I  tell  a  lie  to  an  insane  person  or  a  sick 
person  for  his  good  ?  Is  it  right  ever  to  deceive  ?  These 
questions,  when  put  in  abstract  form,  cannot  always  be  an- 
swered. But  the  practical  answer  comes  to  us  if  we  have 
learned  to  live  in  truth  and  love.  When  these  are  united 
in  our  character,  they  will  not  be  divided  in  our  speech  or 
our  action.  We  shall  not  tell  any  lies  from  good  nature, 
but  we  shall  be  taught  in  the  hour  of  exigency  what  to  do 
and  say.  The  promise  of  Jesus  will  be  fulfilled  :  "  Take 
no  thought  what  ye  shall  say,  for  it  will  be  given  you  in 
that  hour  what  ye  ought  to  say."  If  we  live  in  the  whole, 
a  united  life ;  we  shall  not  act  partially  or  in  a  one-sided 
way.  The  Lord  will  help  us  in  each  exigency,  to  say  and 
do  the  right  thing,  not  sacrificing  truth  to  love  or  love  to 
truth.  Life  often  teaches  us  that  way  which  logic  fails  to 
find. 

The  only  live  work,  too,  is  that  which  has  both  truth  and 
love  in  it.  We  must  love  our  work,  to  do  it  well  ;  we 
must  also  believe  in  it,  to  do  it  well.   The  lowest  drudgery 


104   MERCY  AND  TRUTH  MEETING  TOGETHER. 

becomes  a  fine  art  when  we  put  our  mind  and  heart  into 
it :  a  fine  art  becomes  mere  drudgery  when  we  practise  it 
only  to  make  money  or  get  reputation  out  of  it.  Work  is 
very  hard  when  we  do  it  only  because  we  must ;  it  is  very 
easy  when  we  have  faith  in  it  and  love  it.  I  know  men 
and  women  in  every  kind  of  business  who  contrive  thus  to 
put  love  in  what  they  do,  and  it  makes  it  very  interesting. 
I  have  seen  two  such  persons  very  lately  —  one  is  the  man 
who  invented  the  machine  by  which  the  Hoosac  tunnel 
has  been  bored  through.  He  made  very  little  by  his  in- 
vention, though  those  who  bought  it  of  him  have  made  a 
great  deal,  and  the  State  of  Massachusetts  has  saved  mil- 
lions by  it.  But  this  man  did  not  look  at  all  unhappy. 
His  joy  was  found  in  making  the  invention,  and  in  me- 
chanical processes  of  delicacy  and  difficulty.  Lately,  I 
saw  a  lady  who.  is  a  teacher  of  little  children.  She  told 
me  she  had  never  seen  one  bad  child  ;  never  had  one 
really  bad  child.  Though  educated  a  Calvinist,  she  does 
not  believe  in  infant  depravity.  Of  course,  some  of  the 
children  inherit  faults  from  their  ancestors.  They  are 
careless,  passionate,  stupid  sometimes,  cross  sometimes, 
they  tell  little  fibs  occasionally,  they  tease  each  other,  they 
fret,  they  get  angry  and  cross.  All  this,  but  they  are  not 
bad.  That  is  because  she  loves  them.  Her  love  sees 
something  good  below  the  evil.  Love  always  does.  My 
friend  may  be  clear-sighted  and  see  all  my  faults  ;  but  he 
sees  something  in  me  more  real  than  my  faults,  which  will 
outlast  them  and  redeem  me  from  them.  So  Jesus  loved 
Peter,  seeing  his  faults,  and  knowing  that  Peter  would 
deny  him  thrice,  and  yet  calling  him  the  rock  in  his  faith, 
on  which  the  church  should  stand.  So  God  loves  us, 
though  all  our  sins  are  naked  and  open  to  him  ;  but  he 
sees  something  in  us  beside  our  sins.  I  know  that  this 
teacher,  who  had  never  seen  a  bad  child,  must  be  a  good 


MERCY  AND  TRUTH  MEETING  TEGETHER.    105 

teacher,  and  doing  a  good  work.  The  atonement  of  Christ 
consisted,  as  it  seems  to  me,  just  in  this — that  in  him  were 
perfectly  united  these  elements  of  truth  and  love.  In  him 
mercy  and  truth  met  together  :  they  were  made  at  one  — 
that  was  the  atonement.  He  could  abhor  sin,  and  yet  love 
the  sinner.  He  could  see  the  faults  of  his  disciples,  and 
yet  have  faith  in  them  and  hope  for  them.  His  was  no 
soft  good-nature  ;  no  mild  submission  to  evil.  He  stood 
up  and  rebuked  the  Rulers  and  Pharisees,  and  exposed, 
in  awful  severity,  their  hypocrisy.  He  pardoned  sin,  when 
it  was  confessed  and  repented  of,  but  the  hardened  sinner 
he  judged  with  the  divine  light  of  perfect  truth.  So  he 
baptized  men  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire.  He 
showed  how,  in  God,  justice  and  mercy  could  be  and  were 
always  one.  He  showed  how  God  could  be  just,  and  yet 
justify  those  who  repent  and  trust  in  him. 

Jesus  was  the  son  of  God,  and  if  we  are  willing  to  be 
led  by  the  Spirit  as  he  was  led  by  it,  we,  also,  can  become 
the  sons  of  God.  In  our  joy  and  our  grief,  in  our  doubts 
and  difficulties,  in  light  and  in  darkness,  we  may  still  be- 
lieve that  mercy  and  truth  can  meet  together.  If  we  live 
in  that  spirit,  we  shall  also  walk  in  that  spirit.  If  our 
inward  life  be  united  in  love  and  truth,  our  outward  actions 
will  easily  follow  the  same  rule.  If  we  mean  always  and 
strive  always  to  be  both  true  and  also  loving,  this  spirit 
will  flow  out  into  our  life. 


XL 

NO  TEMPTATIONS  BUT  WHAT  ARE  NATURAL. 

"There  hath  no  temptation  taken  you  but  such  as  is 
common  to  man  ;  but  god  is  faithful,  who  will  not  suffer 
you  to  be  temfred  above  that  ye  are  able,  but  will  with 
the  temptation  also  make  a  way  to  escape,  that  ye  may  be 
able  to  bear  it." 

IT  is  well  known  that  the  same  Greek  words  in  the  New 
Testament  which  mean  "temptation,"  and  "to  tempt," 
also  mean  "  trial,"  and  "  to  try."  A  temptation  is  a  trial ; 
a  trial  is  also  a  temptation. 

Every  machine  made  by  man  which  has  important  work 
to  do,  must  be  tried  or  tested.  Steam  engines  are  tested, 
cannon  are  tested,  watches  are  tested,  the  compasses  of 
sea-going  vessels  are  tested,  to  see  if  they  are  able  to  do 
the  work  which  is  to  be  confided  to  them.  Government  in- 
spectors are  appointed  to  test  and  try  such  articles  as  food, 
fire-arms,  hay,  leather,  milk,  before  they  can  be  offered  for 
sale  It  would  be  well  if  this  inspection  were  carried  fur- 
ther, and  no  buildings  were  allowed  to  be  used  for  public 
meetings  till  they  were  inspected  and  found  to  be  strong 
and  safe  ;  no  bridges  or  railroads  allowed  to  be  used  un- 
less all  necessary  precautions  were  used  against  accidents. 

In  the  economy  of  nature  tests  are  applied  to  plants  and 
animals.  The  whole  of  Darwin's  famous  system  rests  on 
the  theory  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  But  there  is  this 
difference  between   the  trial  of  a  machine  and  of  an  ani- 

(106) 


NO   TEMPTATIONS   BUT  WHAT  ARE   NATURAL.    107 

mal.  If  a  rifle  or  a  cannon  is  tested  by  having  a  heavy- 
charge  fired  from  it,  though  it  may  bear  the  strain  trium- 
phantly, it  is  nevertheless  weakened  a  little  by  that  trial. 
But  a  tree  standing  exposed  to  bleak  winds,  if  not  blown 
down  by  them,  is  made  stronger  by  that  trial,  not  weaker. 
So  a  certain  amount  of  exposure  to  hardship  toughens  the 
animal  fibre,  and  enables  it  to  resist  more  cold  or  heat  or 
fatigue  than  it  could  before.  Only  the  trial  must  not  be  too 
severe,  but  proportioned  to  the  strength.  The  body  must 
not  be  tempted  above  that  it  is  able. 

In  like  manner,  that  wonderful  agent,  the  human  soul, 
created  for  great  ends,  fitted  with  curious  powers,  intended 
for  extraordinary  work  in  this  and  other  worlds,  needs  to 
be  tested  in  a  great  variety  of  ways.  The  Book  of  Job  tells 
us  that  Satan  is  an  angel  of  God,  whose  duty  it  is  to  apply 
these  various  tests  in  order  to  detect  any  latent  weakness 
in  the  character.  What  we  call  temptation  is  therefore 
trial  —  trial  which,  if  borne  well,  goes  to  strengthen  the 
character.  That  is  why  the  Apostle  James  writes,  "  My 
brethren,  count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall  into  divers  tempta- 
tions, knowing  this,  that  the  trying  of  your  faith  worketh 
patience,"  to  which  the  Apostle  Paul  adds,  that  "  Patience 
worketh  experience,  and  experience  Hope." 

The  soul  of  man,  therefore,  is  exposed  to  trials  and  tests 
in  order  that  its  weak  places  may  be  discovered  and  seen 
by  the  man  himself,  to  whom  is  committed  the  task  of  cor- 
recting them.  When  it  is  the  moral  nature  which  is  tested, 
then  the  trial  is  called  a  temptation.  When  the  test  is  ap- 
plied to  see  whether  the  soul  has  the  power  to  resist  an 
allurement  to  wrong,  an  invitation  to  evil,  power  to  resist 
the  lower  desires  in  the  interests  of  the  higher  nature, 
power  to  control  the  appetites,  the  passions  ;  which,  when 
controlled,  work  for  good,  when  allowed  to  govern,  lead 
to  evil  j  when  these  tests  are  applied,  they  are  so  critical, 


108    NO   TEMPTATIONS    BUT   WHAT   ARE   NATURAL. 

so  important,  that  we  give  them  a  special  name,  and  call 
them  temptations. 

Now,  people  often  think  that  their  peculiar  temptations 
are  such  as  no  one  else  ever  endured  ;  that  their  trials  are 
greater  than  those  of  any  one  else.  They  think  they  have 
a  right  to  complain  and  say,  "  Was  ever  sorrow  like  my 
sorrow  ? "  They  pity  themselves,  and  spend  so  much  sym- 
pathy on  themselves,  and  complain  so  much  of  Providence, 
that  they  lose  all  the  benefit  of  the  trial.  Instead  of  grow- 
ing stronger  by  patience  and  trust,  they  become-  full  cf 
complaints  and  bitterness.  So  they  need  to  be  told  that 
"  there  has  no  temptation  happened  to  them  but  such  as  is 
common  to  man,"  and  that  God  does  not  suffer  them  to 
be  tempted  above  what  they  are  able ;  but  with  every 
temptation  makes  a  way  to  escape,  that  they  may  be  able 
to  bear  it.  • 

In  order  to  see  this  more  clearly,  let  us  analyze  human 
temptations,  and  classify  them.  The  common  distribution, 
which  will  answer  well  enough,  is  into  those  which  come 
either  from  the  World,  the  Flesh,  or  the  Devil. 

The  first  class  are  the  temptations  of  the  flesh  —  that  is, 
those  which  come  from  each  one's  bodily  organization  and 
temperament.  The  physical  nature  of  one  person  tempts 
to  irritability  ;  of  another  to  indolence  ;  of  another,  to  too 
much  eating  and  drinking  ;  of  another,  to  an  excessive  de- 
sire to  please  and  to  be  admired  ;  of  another,  to  self-conceit 
and  pride  ;  of  another,  to  self-will  and  obstinacy ;  of  an- 
ther, to  the  opposite  fault  of  self-depreciation  and  want  of 
independence.  One  man  is  by  nature  too  sanguine  and 
hopeful,  and  so  lacks  caution  ;  another  is  too  cautious,  and 
lacks  hope  ;  one  person  is  very  sympathetic,  therefore  too 
yielding,  and  unable  to  say  "  No  ;  "  another,  very  conscien- 
tious, and  so  judges  himself  and  others  too  severely,  or  is 
over-scrupulous.     I  have  known  people  so  afraid  of  doing 


NO   TEMPTATIONS   BUT   WHAT   ARE   NATURAL.    IOQ 

wrong,  so  weighed  down  by  the  sense  of  responsibility, 
that  they  never  ventured  to  do  right.  Now,  all  these  ten- 
dencies, which  are  each  the  cause  of  a  separate  temptation, 
are  probably  rooted  in  each  man's  bodily  organization. 
They  constitute  his  strength  and  weakness.  They  make 
up  the  temptations  of  the  flesh. 

.  And  the  first  great  help  we  have  in  fighting  against  them 
is  to  understand  this  —  that  they  belong  to  human  nature  ; 
that  they  are  common  to  man  ;  that,  therefore,  they  are 
not  to  be  conquered  by  a  single  effort,  but  to  be  brought 
under  control  by  systematic  discipline.  And,  secondly, 
we  are  to  understand  that  we  are  not  to  blame  for  having 
them,  but  only  for  yielding  to  them.  This  will  prevent  us 
from  being  discouraged,  as  though  we  were  responsible  for 
the  temptations  which  come  from  our  very  organization  ; 
or,  as  though  God  sent  to  us  more  than  our  share.  The 
apostle  says,  and  says  very  wisely,  "  Let  no  man  say,  when 
he  is  tempted,  '  I  am  tempted  of  God,'  for  every  man  is 
drawn  away  and  enticed  by  his  own  special  desires." 

First,  then,  see  and  admit  that  you  have  your  special 
temptations,  and  that  others  have  theirs  —  probably  differ- 
ent from  yours,  but  equally  hard  to  resist.  Then,  secondly, 
endeavor  to  discover  what  your  own  special  temptations  are. 
You  will  find  each  one  side  by  side  with  your  good  quality, 
for  every  quality  has  its  defects.  The  tares  and  the  wheat 
grow  together  in  each  soul.  If  a  man  is  courageous,  his 
temptation  is  to  be  rash  ;  if  he  is  cautious,  his  temptation 
is  to  be  timid;  if  he  is  firm,  his  temptation  is  to  be  obstinate  ; 
if  he  is  sympathizing,  his  temptation  is  to  be  too  yielding  and 
unreliable.  Therefore  it  is  a  great  point  to  see  and  know 
what  your  own  peculiar  temptation  is  ;  for,  if  you  have  any 
good  quality,  you  may  be  sure  you  will  have  a  temptation 
close  to  the  side  of  it.  And  if  you  find  for  yourself 
what  your  special  trial  is,  then  you  will  not  need  to  have 


110   NO   TEMPTATIONS    BUT   WHAT   ARE   NATURAL. 

the  Lord  show  it  to  you  by  a  hard  experience.  "  If  we 
judge  ourselves,  we  shall  not  be  judged,"  says  the  Scrip- 
ture ;  but  if  we  are  blind  to  our  own  defects  and  dan- 
gers, then  we  may  need  to  be  made  to  fall,  in  order  to  be 
aroused  from  our  false  self-confidence  and  security. 

And  in  the  third  place,  see  and  understand  that  with 
every  temptation  God  has  made  a  way  of  escape  ;  and  then 
discover  what  is  the  way  of  escape.  Different  temptations 
have  different  ways  of  escape.  Temptations  arising  from 
the  bodily  organization  often  need  moral  gymnastics  and 
ascetic  discipline.  Of  some  it  may  be  said,  "  This  kind 
goeth  not  out  save  by  prayer  and  fasting."  We  can  compel 
ourselves  to  abstain,  to  keep  away  from  the  temptation,  to 
avoid  the  beginnings  of  evil.  We  can  surround  our- 
selves with  favorable  circumstances.  When  Alfieri,  the 
poet,  was  determined  to  write  a  tragedy,  but  found  that  he 
could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  leave  his  desk  and  rush 
out  into  the  open  air,  he  made  his  servant  tie  him  into  his 
chair  so  that  he  could  not  unfasten  himself,  and  ordered 
him  on  no  account  to  untie  him  until  three  hours  had 
elapsed.  So,  too,  the  wise  Ulysses  had  himself  tied  to  the 
mast  when  about  to  hear  the  song  of  the  sirens.  We  some- 
times exercise  our  freedom  in  the  highest  way  by  thus  re- 
nouncing our  freedom.  If  our  fault  is  indecision,  we  may 
take  a  step  which  shall  make  further  indecision  impossible, 
and  compel  circumstances  to  come  to  our  aid. 

Self-denial,  even  ascetic  self-denial,  is  sometimes  the 
way  of  escape.  Luxury  and  self-indulgence  enervate.  We 
must  sometimes  collect  our  energies  by  solitude,  by  deny- 
ing ourselves  recreation,  even  innocent  recreation ;  by 
practicing  rigid  economy,  and  leading  austere  lives.  So 
the  Apostle  Paul  said,  "  I  keep  under  my  body  and  bring 
it  into  subjection  ;  lest  I,  who  have  preached  to  others, 
should  myself  be  unable  to  stand  the  test."     The  asceti- 


NO  TEMPTATIONS    BUT   WHAT   ARE   NATURAL.     I  [  I 

cism,  which  is  objectionable,  is  asceticism  for  its  own  sake, 
as  though  it  were  good  in  itself.  This  was  the  error  of 
mediaeval  ascticism. 

Self-denial  is  to  the  soul  what  gymnastics  are  to  the  body. 
Gymnastics  are  to  be  practiced  for  the  sake  of  gaining 
strength  and  health,  and  not  for  the  sake  of  gymnastics.  If 
people  should  retire  into  gymnasiums  and  devote  the  rest 
of  their  lives  to  solitary  gymnastic  exercises,  it  would  be 
foolish.  The  monks  committed  a  similar  folly.  But  our 
danger  is  not  theirs  ;  our  temptations  are  not  in  that  direc- 
tion —  they  are  to  self-indulgence,  to  luxury,  to  the  love 
of  display,  to  love  of  accumulation.  We  should  be  all 
the  better  if  we  were  willing  to  practice  more  self-denial, 
to  accept  a  relative  poverty,  to  give  up  the  aim  of  being 
rich  or  of  having  all  the  luxuries  which  the  rich  have. 
This  would  give  us  more  strength  in  our  souls. 

I  find  I  have  been  led  to  speak  already  of  the  second 
class  of  temptations  —  those  of  the  world.  They  arise 
from  what  is  around  us  ;  from  the  influence  of  public 
opinion  ;  the  immense  power  of  example  :  the  ease  of 
doing  as  others  do  ;  the  difficulty  of  standing  alone.  This 
influence  is  immense,  and  often  seems  irresistible.  By 
refusing  to  live  as  others  do,  we  not  only  offend  our  neigh- 
bors, but  often  our  friends  and  our  own  family.  I  might 
be  glad  to  dine  on  baked  potatoes,  but  how  can  I  ask  my 
friends  to  share  that  humble  repast  ?  I  might  be  willing 
to  wear  very  simple  clothing,  but  if  I  became  an  object  of 
observation,  criticism  and  ridicule  on  that  account,  it  might 
do  more  harm  than  good.  Unless  we  go  into  the  back- 
woods or  into  convents,  or  turn  Quakers,  we  must  conform 
in  most  things  to  social  customs,  making  only  the  mild 
protest  of  more  economy  and  simplicity  in  our  living.  But 
we  can  always  escape  the  serious  temptations  and  real 
dangers  of  the  world  —  "  the  evil  communications  which 


112    NO   TEMPTATIONS    BUT   WHAT   ARE   NATURAL. 

corrupt  good  manners  "  —  by  seeking  other  society,  better 
associates,  the  company  of  those  whose  influence  on  us  is 
elevating,  inspiring  and  ennobling. 

Sometimes  the  way  of  escape  from  worldly  temptations 
is  to  run  away.  The  only  thing  we  can  do  to  save  our- 
selves is  to  run.  A  social  atmosphere  may  be  morally  so 
debilitating  that  it  is  like  malaria  —  we  had  best  get  away 
from  it  as  soon  as  possible.  So  Lot  ran  from  Sodom  ;  it 
was  the  only  thing  he  could  do.  An  irritable  person,  who 
finds  his  anger  being  excited  by  what  is  said,  had  better 
take  his  hat  and  walk  away.  And  sometimes,  the  way  of 
escape  is  to  refuse  to  listen.  There  is  an  instinct  of  right 
in  the  soul  which  will  tell  us,  if  we  attend  to  it,  that  the  ar- 
gument we  hear  is  a  sophistry,  and  then  it  is  best  not  to 
hear  more.  When  principle  is  on  one  side  and  a  vast  ex- 
pediency on  the  other,  we  had  better  cling  to  the  principle, 
and  say,  as  Jesus  said  to  well-meaning  Peter,  "  Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan !  "  "Thou  savorest  not  the  things  which 
be  of  God,  but  those  which  are  of  men." 

And  this  brings  us  to  the  third  class  of  temptations  — 
the  temptations  of  the  devil.  These  are  always  temptations 
to  our  higher  nature  and  they  come  disguised  as  angels  of 
light  They  are  the  temptations  addressed  to  the  con- 
science, to  the  religious  nature,  to  the  love  of  doing  good, 
the  desire  for  self-culture.  When  successful  they  pervert 
that  which  is  best  in  the  soul,  and  are  often  the  most  dan- 
gerous of  all,  because  a  good  thing,  when  perverted  be- 
comes the  worst. 

Thus,  the  greatest  cruelties  ever  practised  by  man  to 
man  have  been  done  in  the  name  of  religion,  and  by  a  per- 
verted conscience.  Let  a  man  only  think  it  his  duty  to 
torment  his  brother,  and  he  will  put  an  amount  of  horrible 
atrocity  into  it  which  no  North  American  Indians  can 
equal.     If  you  believe  that  men  can  only  be  saved  from 


NO   TEMPTATIONS    BUT   WHAT  ARE    NATURAL.     I  1 3 

hell  by  belonging  to  your  church,  it  often  seems  a  duty  to 
use  every  means  to  bring  men  in  and  keep  them  in.  The 
argument  is  that  if  burning  alive  or  torturing  a  few  hun- 
dred thousand  heretics  will  keep  millions  from  becoming 
heretics,  and  so  from  going  to  everlasting  torments  in  hell, 
you  ought  to  do  it.  This  was  what  was  done  by  the  Spanish 
Inquisition.  It  actually  destroyed  heresy  in  Spain.  The 
cruelty  which  burned  witches  in  Europe  and  hanged  them 
in  America  was  exercised  by  the  most  conscientious  and 
religious  people.  In  the  same  way  falsehood  has  been 
sanctified  by  religion.  The  mediaeval  theologians  laid  it 
down  as  a  distinct  proposition  that  pious  frauds  were  right, 
and  so  lying  prophecies  were  invented,  lying  miracles 
multiplied,  and  lying  calumnies  invented  against  all  who 
opposed  the  Church.  To  convince  heretics  old  writings 
were  interpolated  or  forged,  and  this,  says  Lecky,  in  his 
"  History  of  Morals,"  continued  till,  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  very  sense  of  truth  and  love  of  truth  seemed  to  be 
blotted  from  the  mind  of  Christendom.  Thus  a  perverted 
conscience  and  a  perverted  religion  may  make  a  duty  of 
cruelty  and  of  falsehood. 

So,  too,  in  our  day,  what  needless  cruelties  are  inflicted 
on  young  people  by  kind  and  good  clergymen  who  think  it 
their  duty  to  torment  their  sensitive  consciences  by  pictures 
of  a  raging  hell  and  an  angry  God  !  Many  persons  have 
described  to  me  how  their  life  was  made  bitter  and  their 
heart  hardened  by  listening  to  such  descriptions  of  the 
Almighty.  These  clergymen  are  quite  above  the  tempta- 
tions of  the  flesh  or  of  the  world,  but  yield  at  once  to  these 
temptations  of  the  devil.  He  knows  how  to  quote  Scripture 
to  his  purpose,  and  says,  "  Does  not  the  Bible  speak  of  hell 
and  its  torments?"  So  kind-hearted  and  conscientious 
young  women  beat  little  children  cruelly  in  the  schools 
because  they  think  it  their  duty  to  do  so.     So,  once,  a 

8 


114    N0   TEMPTATIONS    BUT  WHAT  ARE   NATURAL. 

clergyman  of  high  standing  and  great  purity  shocked  all 
the  mothers  in  the  land  by  calmly  relating,  as  a  great 
exploit,  how  he  had  broken  the  will  of  his  little  child,  three 
years  old,  who  had  refused  to  eat  a  piece  of  bread,  by  keep- 
ing her  shut  up  all  day  till  she  agreed  to  do  what  he 
ordered.  In  such  cases,  the  devil  of  self-will  disguises 
himself  as  the  angel  of  Authority  and  Discipline.  The 
devil  disguises  himself  as  the  Angel  of  Truth,  and  so  makes 
men  bigots  and  sectarians.  He  disguises  himself  as  the 
Angel  of  Conscience,  and  makes  men  intolerant  and 
merciless  to  the  sinner. 

This  class  of  temptations  are  the  worst  —  and  therefore 
Jesus  was  so  severe  against  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  in 
order  to  arouse  them  to  a  sense  of  their  hardness  and  cold- 
ness and  cruelty  and  pride. 

But  there  is  always  a  way  of  escape  from  this  kind  of 
temptations,  which  beset  the  noblest  and  purest  minds. 
Some  of  the  best  of  men  are  deliberately  gloomy  and 
anxious  because  they  think  they  ought  to  be  so  — so  much, 
they  say,  depends  on  them.  Other  good  men  destroy 
themselves  with  work  from  a  sense  of  duty.  These  per- 
versions of  conscience  are  hard  to  cure,  but  there  are  ways 
of  escape.  Anxiety  and  care  are  sometimes  cured,  and  the 
mind  restored  to  its  true  balance  by  leaving  all  work  and 
going  where  solitude  and  nature,  or  a  change  of  scene  and 
society,  can  break  the  rigid  associations  of  habit.  God  has 
made  the  world  so  wide  in  order  that  we  may  find  rest  in  a 
change  of  scene.  I  do  not  know  any  more  blessed  influ- 
ence for  one  harassed  by  the  anxieties  of  business  or  the 
turmoil  of  difficult  duties  than  the  immense  peace  of  nature. 
Mr.  Emerson  represents  a  man  going  out  of  a  meeting  of 
excited  reformers,  and  the  stars  looking  down  on  him  and 
saying  "Why  so  hot,  my  little  man?"  A  month  spent 
among   the   great  mountains  of   Colorado  and  the   vast 


NO    TEMPTATIONS    BUT    WHAT  ARE   NATURAL.     II5 

regions  of  Arizona  would  be  likely  to  quiet  the  nerves  of 
most  of  us.  Sometimes  disease  is  sent,  as  a  blessed  help, 
to  take  us  out  of  our  insane  activity.  But  the  best  remedy 
for  all  such  anxieties  is  to  believe  in  the  providence  of 
God ;  to  believe  that  we  and  all  other  human  beings  are 
in  the  hands  of  one  who  knows  how  to  guide  the  world. 

For  this  purpose  Jesus,  in  rebuking  anxiety,  calls  our 
attention  to  the  lilies  of  the  field  and  to  the  fowls  of  the 
air.  If  we  believe  that  God  takes  care  of  us,  of  society,  of 
man,  of  the  nation,  of  the  church,  of  orthodoxy,  as  much 
as  he  does  of  dandelions  and  bluebirds,  we  should  not  be 
frightened  as  we  are  about  them.  Panic  terrors  are  pecu-C" 
liar  to  cities  and  crowds.  State  Street  and  Wall  Street  are 
in  a  panic  when  Berkshire  county  and  the  Illinois  prairies 
are  quite  calm.  You  remember  the  story  of  Mungo  Park 
and  the  little  flower  in  Africa.  Some  one  says,  "  When  I 
believe  in  truth  as  I  believe  in  nature,  I  shall  not  be 
anxious  about  heresies  and  heretics,  and  not  be  afraid  that 
skeptics  and  deists  shall  overthrow  religion.  I  do  not 
run  to  the  window  in  the  morning  to  see  whether  anybody 
has  carried  away  the  mountain  opposite,  or  run  away  with 
the  river." 

The  temptations  of  Jesus  were  all  of  this  higher  order. 
He  was  only  tempted  by  the  devil,  not  by  the  world  or  by 
the  flesh.  His  temptation  was  to  use  his  wonderful  powers 
so  as  to  convince  mankind  by  an  irresistible  persuasion  of 
his  mission.  The  devil  tempted  him  to  work  miracles,  to 
make  bread  out  of  stones,  to  throw  himself  from  the  Temple 
—  and  the  devil  reinforced  his  argument  by  ample  quota- 
tions from  the  Bible.  He  asked  him  to  make  a  little  com- 
promise with  truth  for  the  sake  of  doing  a  vast  good  ;  for 
the  sake  of  a  great  right  to  commit  a  little  wrong  ;  to  wor- 
ship the  devil  for  one  little  moment  in  order  to  bring  to 
God  the  kingdoms  of  the  whole  world.     Jesus  surmounted 


Il6   NO   TEMPTATIONS    BUT   WHAT  ARE   NATURAL. 

these  most  subtle  and  difficult  temptations,  and  so  had 
nothing  else  to  fear.  In  each  case  he  threw  himself  on 
God.  "  God  will  feed  me,"  he  said  ;  "  I  must  trust  in  him 
and  wait  his  time.  I  must  worship  him  alone,  the  Infinite 
Truth." 

These  trials  are  necessary  for  us.  They  are  the  common 
lot.  But  there  is  always  a  way  of  escape  if  we  will  look 
for  it.  Sometimes  it  is  found  in  solitude,  sometimes  in 
society,  sometimes  in  prayer,  sometimes  in  action.  Some- 
times friendship  will  help  us ;  sometimes  the  best  thing  we 
can  do  is  to  tell  our  troubles  to  another,  and  sometimes 
the  only  help  is  in  telling  them  to  God.  The  higher  the 
temptation,  the  higher  the  help.  To  live  in  the  spirit  of 
trust  and  submission,  of  hope  and  faith  and  love  —  this  is 
the  surest  aid.  If  we  live  in  the  spirit,  we  shall  walk  in 
the  spirit.  There  has  no  temptation  come  to  any  of  us 
but  what  is  common  to  man  j  no  temptation  which  is  above 
our  strength  ;  no  -temptation  from  which  there  is  not  an 
escape.  All  come  to  try  us,  and  do  us  good  ;  to  humble 
and  prove  us,  and  let  us  see  what  is  in  our  heart ;  to  show 
us  our  dangers  and  our  weakness.  When  we  have  learned 
these,  then  we  may  pray,  "  Lead  us  not  into  temptation," 
and  we  shall  need  it  no  longer,  and  God  will  command  the 
devil  to  leave  us  and  angels  to  come  and  minister  to  us. 


XII. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  FEAR  AND  THE  SPIRIT  OF  POWER. 

"  God  hath  not  given  us  the  spirit  of  fear  ;  but  of  power, 
and  of  love,  and  of  a  sound  mind." 

"We  may  have   boldness  in  the  day  of  judgment;  BECAUSE 

AS  HE  IS  IN  THIS  WORLD,  SO  ARE  WE.  THERE  IS  NO  FEAR  IN 
LOVE;  BUT  PERFECT  LOVE  CASTETH  OUT  FEAR,  BECAUSE  FEAR 
HATH  TORMENT.  HE  THAT  FEARETH  IS  NOT  MADE  PERFECT  IN 
LOVE." 

"For  ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to 
fear,  but  ye  have  received  the  spirit  of  adoption  where- 
BY we  cry  Abba,  Father." 

"  Peace  i  leave  with  you,  my  peace  i  give  unto  you.  Let  not 
your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid.'^ 

I  HAVE  brought  together  several  passages  in  order  to 
show  that  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  is  not  a  spirit  of  fear, 
that  Christianity  is  not  a  religion  of  fear,  and  that  Jesus 
comes  to  deliver  us  from  all  fear.  I  will  endeavor  to  show 
how  this  is,  and  how  we  can  experience  this  deliverance 
from  fear. 

But  there  are  some  objections  to  be  first  considered. 

If  life  is  full  of  danger  and  evil,  ought  we  not  to  be 
afraid  ?  it  may  be  asked.  Is  it  right  not  to  be  afraid  ?  God 
has  placed  us  between  two  worlds  —  the  world  of  life  and 
good,  the  world  of  death  and  evil,  to  choose  between  them. 
Ought  we  not  to  fear  lest  we  should  fail,  through  our  own 
folly  and  sin,  of  choosing  and  adhering  to  the  right  ?  Do 
we  not  see  thousands  going  carelessly  and  recklessly  on  in 

("7> 


Il8  THE    SPIRIT    OF    FEAR   AND 

the  way  which  leads  downward,  and  do  they  not  need  to 
fear  ?  ought  they  not  to  be  afraid  ?  And  if  the  Bible  con- 
tains passages  which  teach  us  not  to  fear,  does  it  not  con- 
tain other  passages  which  teach  that  we  ought  to  fear  ? 
Does  not  Jesus  tell  us  "  not  to  fear  those  who  can  kill  the 
body,  and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they  can  do,  but  to 
fear  him  who  can  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell  ? " 
St  Paul  says,  "  Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling."  The  Apostle  Peter  says,  "Pass  the  time  of 
your  sojourning  here  in  fear."  And  everywhere  in  the  New 
Testament  and  Old  we  are  taught  that  "  the  fear  of  the 
Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom."  How  are  these  facts 
and  statements  to  be  reconciled  with  the  assertion  that  it 
is  the  duty  of  Christians  not  to  fear  ? 

First,  we  may  say  that  a  distinction  can  be  taken  be- 
tween fear  as  a  subordinate  motive  and  fear  as  a  ruling 
motive  of  human  action.  As  a  motive  subordinated  to 
other  motives,  fear  is  always  useful.  As  the  sole  or  prin- 
cipal motive  of  action,  it  is  always  evil.  Fear  acting  alone 
paralyzes,  and  makes  one  incapable  of  exertion.  Fear  as 
the  ruling  motive  of  conduct  is  degrading,  because  it  is  es- 
sentially selfish.  But  fear,  when  controlled  by  reason, 
when  subordinate  to  hope,  when  joined  with  courage,  be- 
comes caution,  watchfulness,  modesty.  It  causes  us  to  sus- 
pect and  distrust  ourselves  till  we  have  reason  to  trust  in 
ourselves ;  makes  us  look  around,  look  forward,  measure 
the  difficulty  to  be  overcome,  see  the  full  amount  of  risk 
to  be  encountered,  and  so,  at  last,  when  danger  arrives,  it 
appears  as  presence  of  mind  and  self-possession  equal  to 
the  occasion.  This  is  our  first  explanation  of  the  difficulty 
suggested.  The  Christian  fears,  but  is  never  governed  by 
his  fears  He  fears,  but  also  hopes.  He  has  not  a  spirit 
of  fear  but  a  spirit  of  hope  and  power. 

But,  again,  how  much  we  need  to  fear  and  ought  to  fear 


THE   SPIRIT   OF    POWER,  I -1 9 

depends  upon  the  progress  of  our  inward  life  and  Christian 
experience.  He  who  feareth  is  not  made  perfect  in  love. 
But  until  he  is  made  perfect  in  love  he  must  necessarily 
fear.  The  work  of  Christ  is  to  deliver  us  from  all  exces- 
sive fear,  and  to  leave  in  its  place  calmness  and  sober 
watchfulness  and  a  profound  peace.  But  this  work  is  not 
done  suddenly;  is  a  progressive  work.  Step  by  step, 
through  manifold  experiences,  we  enter  this  region  of 
Christian  peace,  calmness  and  joy.  Through  manifold 
temptation  and  trial  it  behooves  us  to  enter  God's  kingdom. 
And  how  this  is  let  us  now  consider. 

First,  consider  fear  of  sin  and  of  its  consequences. 

The  main  purpose  of  Christianity  is  to  save  us  from  sin, 
and  thereby  to  save  us  from  its  consequences,  which  are 
moral  and  spiritual  death.  And  it  saves  us,  not  by  inspir- 
ing fear,  but  by  inspiring  faith  and  courage.  It  assures  us 
that  "  sin  shall  not  have  dominion "  over  us,  because  we 
are  "  not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace,"  and  because  the 
strength  of  sin  is  the  law.     What  does  this  mean  ? 

The  law  of  God  shows  us  what  our  duty  is,  but  gives  us 
no  power  to  do  it.  The  purer  and  higher  the  standard,  the 
less  ability  we  feel  to  reach  it.  Therefore  the  Christian 
law  of  love  which  says,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  is  the  most 
discouraging  law  of  all.  It  tells  us  to  do  that  which  we  are 
quite  sure  we  cannot  do.  The  Christian  law  Of  account- 
ability, which  teaches  that  we  are  expected  to  improve 
every  talent  that  we  possess,  and  that  if  we  merely  stay 
where  we  are  without  improvement  we  are  wicked  and  sloth- 
ful servants,  is  another  most  discouraging  announcement. 
The  Christian  law  of  truth  and  purity,  which  tells  us  that 
we  are  to  give  an  account  of  every  idle  word,  and  that  a 
sinful  wish  has  in  it  the  guilt  of  a  sinful  action,  is  again 
discouraging.     And,  finally,  the  law  which  demands  per- 


120  THE   SPIRIT    OF   FEAR   AND 

fection,  which  says,  "  Be  perfect  as  your  Father  in  Heaven 
is  perfect ; "  which  says  if  we  offend  in  one  point  we  are 
guilty  of  all ;  which  requires,  not  partial,  but  entire  service 
— prayer  without  ceasing,  thanks  for  everything,  all  of  life 
saturated  with  holiness,  this  is  eminently  discouraging. 
Yet  all  this  the  gospel  does  demand.  All  this  Christ  re- 
quires. He  who  has  any  self-knowledge  knows  himself  to 
be  unequal  to  this  demand.  The  law,  therefore,  by  re- 
quiring so  much,  takes  away  his  courage,  and  he  does  not 
attempt  anything.  Thus  it  is  that  the  law  ordained  for  life 
becomes  death ;  meant  to  make  us  better,  it  makes  us 
worse  ;  and  the  higher  and  better  it  is,  the  more  discourage- 
ment it  produces,  and  the  more,  therefore,  it  palsies  and 
destroys  our  moral  life. 

Read  Paul's  epistles,  and  you  will  find  this  is  precisely 
what  he  is  describing  when  he  is  speaking  of  the  defects  of 
the  law  and  how  the  law  works  death.  Then  look  into 
your  own  heart,  and  you  will  find  the  truth  of  his  state- 
ments reflected,  as  in  a  mirror,  by  your  own  experience. 
"The  law,"  he  says,  "worketh  wrath.  For  where  no  law 
is,  there  is  no  transgression."  That  is  to  say,  "It  is 
not  till  we  have  transgressed  some  known  law  that  we  have 
a  sense  of  guilt,  or  a  feeling  of  the  divine  displeasure." 
"Without  the  law,"  he  says  again,  "sin  was  dead.  But 
when  the  commandment  came  sin  revived  and  I  died." 
Before  we  see  the  claims  of  duty  and  demands  of  God,  we 
have  faith  in  ourselves,  confidence  in  our  power  and  cour- 
age to  undertake  almost  anything ;  but  every  new  revela- 
tion of  the  divine  law  shows  us  new  deficiencies  in  our 
character,  reveals  our  own  tendencies  to  evil,  our  weakness 
to  good,  and  so  discourages  us.  And  discouragement  is 
moral  death. 

"  Courage  gone,  all  gone, 
Better  never  have  been  born." 


THE    SPIRIT   OF    POWER.  121 

Is  not  this  borne  out  by  the  experience  of  us  all  ?  Trans- 
late Paul's  thought  into  modern  language.  Instead  of  the 
law  say  moral  teaching,  and  ask  whether  by  itself  and 
alone  it  is  not  wholly  discouraging.  When  we  have  our 
duties  pointed  out,  the  first  effect  is  to  rouse  the  conscience 
and  make  us  take  good  resolutions.  We  resolve  to  do  bet- 
ter. We  resolve  to  begin  a  new  life,  to  correct  such  and 
such  faults,  to  take  such  and  such  steps  forward.  Perhaps 
we  really  do  better —  at  least  for  a  time.  If  our  purpose  is 
merely  a  partial  improvement,  a  correction  of  some  par- 
ticular faults,  we  may  succeed  in  effecting  it,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  moral  instruction.  But  if  we  aim  at  anything 
deep,  radical,  thorough,  we  inevitably  fall.  For  a  command, 
a  law,  does  not  give  life  or  power.  And  the  more  often 
that  we  fail,  the  more  we  are  discouraged,  until,  at  last,  it 
seems  idle  and  hopeless  to  take  any  new  resolutions.  And 
when  we  reach  this  point,  moral  instruction  has  produced 
moral  death. 

The  most  melancholy  instance  perhaps  of  the  evil  influ- 
ence of  this  paganized  theology  is  in  the  case  of  the  poet 
Cowper.  Gifted  by  nature  with  exquisite  tenderness  of 
soul,  with  susceptibility  to  all  that  is  true  and  beautiful  in 
the  outer  and  the  inner  world,  made  to  be  a  loving  child  of 
God,  his  life  was  darkened,  his  high  faculties  palsied,  and 
his  reason  at  last  overthrown  by  the  influence  of  a  pagan- 
ized Christianity.  The  sun  and  the  light  and  the  moon  and 
the  stars  were  darkened  ;  the  silver  cord  was  loosed,  and 
the  golden  bowl  broken.  Standing  by  Cowper's  grave, 
thinking  of  Cowper's  experience,  another  poet,  as  deeply 
religious  as  he,  but  blessed  with  a  more  generous  faith, 
has  sung  the  saddest  song  over  this  blighted  spirit : 

"  O,  poets !  from  a  maniac's  tongue 
"Was  heard  the  deathly  singing. 

O,  Christians !  to  your  cross  of  hope 
A  hopeless  hand  was  clinging. 


122  THE   SPIRIT    OF   FEAR   AND 

O,  men !  a  man  in  brotherhood, 

Your  kindred  paths  beguiling, 
Groaned  inly,  while  he  gave  you  light 

And  died  while  you  were  smiling." 

Not  so  evil  as  this,  but  still  very  evil,  is  that  Judaizing 
Christianity  which  substitutes  law  for  love,  and  gives  us  a 
judge  instead  of  a  father.  Instead  of  one  dark  gloom,  we 
have  in  this  case  a  continued  anxiety  ;  instead  of  one  great 
fear,  continued  self-distrust.  We  are  not  yet  sons,  but 
only  hired  servants.  We  work  laboriously,  and  have  no 
deep  inward  peace  ;  no  profound  satisfaction,  but  instead 
of  assured  faith,  we  doubt  our  right  to  any  of  the  Christian 
promises.  We  cannot  say  "  We  know  in  whom  we  have 
believed,"  not  "  We  know  we  have  passed  from  death  to 
life,"  but  "  We  hope  that  we  may  be  improving  a  little  ; " 
not  "  Nothing  can  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God,"  but 
we  hope  to  be  accepted  by  him  hereafter ;  not  a  present, 
certain  salvation,  but  a  future,  probable  salvation. 

What  we  need  is  the  spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  may 
cry,  "  Abba,  Father !  "  Then  there  will  be  no  more  fear, 
neither  fear  of  man  nor  fear  of  God,  nor  fear  of  sin,  nor 
fear  of  death,  nor  fear  of  what  follows  death.  When  we 
are  God's  children,  living  in  our  Father's  House,  recon- 
ciled to  him,  at  peace  with  him,  with  his  love  shed  abroad 
in  our  hearts,  then  all  fear  is  taken  away.  Then  our  work 
is  easy,  our  way  is  onward ;  every  day  adds  something  to 
our  real  life,  every  year  witnesses  some  real  improvement, 
for  the  life  we  now  live  we  live  by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God. 
We  live,  yet  not  we,  but  Christ  who  lives  in  us.  And  when 
we  are  in  him,  and  he  in  us,  then  we  are  always  near  to 
God ;  his  peace  always  with  us,  his  grace  sufficient  for  us 
everywhere.  He  is  the  vine,  we  the  branches,  and  the  life 
of  the  vine  causes  the  branches  to  grow  year  by  year 
more   luxuriantly.     And,   when   the   winter  of  trial   and 


THE    SPIRIT   OF   POWER.  123 

adversity  strips  them  of  their  leaves,  they  shall  renew  in 
the  spring  an  abounding  foliage,  to  be  a  beauty  and  a 
shelter.  And  when  the  autumn  of  life  comes  they  shall 
bear  fruit  in  large  purple  clusters  for  the  comfort  and  joy 
of  all  who  need,  to  make  glad  the  hearts  of  little  children, 
to  moisten  the  parched  lips  of  the  dying,  to  assuage  the 
burning  thirst  of  fever,  and  give  delight  to  all. 

But  in  order  to  be  freed  from  fear,  it  is  not  enough  to 
be  told  not  to  fear.  In  the  midst  of  a  battle  tell  the 
coward  not  to  be  afraid ;  in  the  midst  of  a  thunder-storm 
tell  the  person  who  shrinks  from  the  vivid  flash  and  the 
astounding  peal  that  he  need  not  fear.  What  good  will  it 
do  ?  The  source  of  fear  is  within,  and  that  must  be 
removed.  So  preach,  as  much  as  we  may,  the  mercy  of 
God,  preach  that  he  is  a  father,  and  that  no  one  need  fear, — 
I  tell  you  that  men  will  still  fear,  will  fear  death,  will  fear 
hell,  will  be  afraid  of  God  as  long  as  unreconciled,  unre- 
pented  sin  is  in  their  hearts.  They  may  think  there  is  no 
punishment  hereafter,  but  that  will  only  cover  up  and  hide 
the  fear,  —  it  will  not  remove  it.  To  cure  our  souls  of 
fear,  to  fill  them  with  hope  and  trust,  there  is  but  one  way, 
and  that  is  to  look  our  sins  in  the  face,  to  look  God's  law 
in  the  face,  to  see  the  eternal  connection  between  right  and 
good,  death  and  evil;  and  then,  when  we  have  had  an 
experience  of  duty,  of  responsibility,  of  sin,  of  danger,  we 
are  ready  to  enter  into  the  deeper  experience  of  pardon,  of 
hope,  of  entire,  present  joyous  salvation. 

But  just  as  everything  passes  through  natural  death  to  a 
new  life,  so  it  is  in  the  progress  of  the  soul.  When  most 
discouraged,  we  are  then  most  ready  to  receive  a  new  kind 
of  encouragement.  This  the  gospel  gives.  The  gospel  is 
an  assurance  to  us,  from  God  through  Christ,  that  we  are 
to  conquer  sin  and  be  redeemed  wholly  from  its  power.  It 
is  a  promise  -  that  what  we  cannot  do  in  our  own  strength, 


124  THE    SPIRIT   OF    FEAR   AND 

we  can  do  through  faith  in  Christ ;  a  promise  of  a  continual 
influx  of  new  life  from  God  while  we  look  for  it  and  ask  for 
it ;  a  strength  sufficient  for  us,  a  peace  passing  understand- 
ing, a  love  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts,  a  light  from  him  in 
which  we  shall  see  light.  Now,  this  assurance,  if  we  be- 
lieve it,  renews  all  our  courage,  and  more  than  renews  it. 
It  prevents  the  possibility  of  future  discouragement.  For 
the  sense  of  our  weakness,  which  discouraged  us  before, 
does  not  discourage  us  now.  We  are  relying  on  something 
else  —  a  different  strength,  another  energy.  In  this  way 
we  surmount  the  fear  of  sin  and  its  consequences.  We 
have  a  profound  inward  assurance  that  we  shall  conquer  it, 
and  be  fully  saved  from  its  power.  And  so  the  law  no 
longer  discourages. 

A  certain  man  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,  and 
fell  among  thieves,  who  stripped  him  of  his  raiment,  and 
wounded  him,  and  departed,  leaving  him  half  dead.  This 
man  is  the  human  soul  on  its  journey  through  human  life 
and  the  experiences  of  earth.  The  thieves  are  temptations 
from  without  and  within,  which  strip  the  soul  of  its  heaven- 
given  raiment  of  innocence,  wound  the  moral  nature,  and 
leave  the  human  being,  despoiled  of  peace  and  hope,  per- 
ishing in  the  wilderness  of  the  world.  Then  there  comes  a 
priest  —  a  preacher  of  the  moral  law  —  and  says,  "Arise 
and  flee,  or  thou  wilt  perish  on  the  sand  ;  or,  if  not,  the 
robbers  will  return  and  slay  thee.  Thou  must  exert  thyself 
and  go  to  the  city ;  it  is  many  miles  distant,  but  thou  must 
reach  it,  or  die."  And  having  said  this,  the  priest  departs. 
The  man  rouses  himself,  goes  a  little  way,  but,  weak 
through  his  wounds,  drops  on  the  ground  more  discouraged 
than  before.  Then  comes  the  Levite,  who  represents  the 
ceremonial  law,  and  tells  him  that  the  holy  church,  by 
its  sacraments  and  its  ministers,  its  holy  creed,  its  holy 
books  and  its  holy  days,  will  endeavor  to  obtain  from  God 


THE   SPIRIT    OF    POWER.  125 

his  cure,  and  so  passes  by  on  the  other  side.  Then  comes 
the  gospel,  as  the  good  Samaritan,  on  its  journey  of  grace 
and  peace  through  the  world.  It  has  compassion  on  the 
soul  because  it  is  weak  and  sinful,  It  pours  the  oil  of 
God's  forgiving  love  into  the  wounds  of  the  conscience ; 
the  wine  of  inspiring  truth  and  an  infinite  hope  into  the 
mind.  It  sets  him  on  its  own  beast,  and  brings  him  to  the 
inn,  and  takes  care  of  him,  and  makes  a  provision  for  his 
permanent  relief  and  cure.  The  soul,  made  alive  by  Chris- 
tian faith,  feels  that  it  has  not  to  struggle  unaided  in  the 
work  of  duty.  It  feels  the  kind  friend  always  near,  the 
supporting  arms  always  ready,  the  provision  for  future  need 
all  made  ;  and  so,  inspired  with  new  faith  and  courage,  is 
able  to  begin  a  new  life. 

Thus  delivered  from  the  fear  of  sin  by  the  power  of  the 
gospel,  we  are  also  delivered  from  the  fear  of  God.  This 
statement  also  requires  some  consideration. 

There  is  a  fear  of  God  which  is  always  right,  and  which 
we  shall  always  need  to  cherish.  It  is  that  spirit  of  rever- 
ence for  the  greatness  and  holiness  of  the  Divine  Being 
which  elevates  the  character,  purifies  the  soul,  and  brings 
us  evermore  nearer  to  the  Heavenly  Father.  This  is  not 
a  spirit  of  fear,  but  a  spirit  of  reverence  which  consists  with 
perfect  love.  In  this  sense  the  word  fear  is  often  used  in 
the  Bible,  as  where  it  is  said  (Eph.  v.  33),  "  Let  the  wife 
see  that  she  fear  her  husband,"  which  in  our  version  is 
properly  translated  reverence,  as  it  should  be  translated 
(1  Peter  iii.  2)  where,  the  pure  and  respectful  or  modest 
behavior  of  wives  are  spoken  of. 

Where  fear  means  dread,  it  is  not  applied  to  God.  There 
is  an  apparent  exception  to  this  (Matt.  x.  28),  "  Fear  not 
them  which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul ; 
but  rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy  both  body  and 
soul  in  hell."     But  if  this  applies  to  God,  then  the  word 


126  THE    SPIRIT   OF    FEAR   AND 

fear  has  to  be  taken  in  two  senses  in  the  same  verse.  And, 
directly  after,  we  are  told  not  to  fear,  because  God  protects 
us.  Hence,  some  interpreters  suppose  that,  as  God  does 
not  destroy  the  soul,  this  must  refer  to  sin,  or  the  principle 
of  evil,  which  does  destroy  soul  and  body  in  hell.  It  is  the 
work  of  the  gospel  to  substitute  the  spirit  of  adoption  for 
the  spirit  of  fear  in  our  feeling  towards  God. 

It  is,  no  doubt,  natural  for  men  in  a  low  moral  or  mental 
condition  to  dread  higher  powers.  Pagan  religions,  there- 
fore, are  religions  of  fear.  All  forms  of  superstition  make 
men  tremble  before  the  anger  of  their  gods.  They  transfer 
to  the  character  of  their  gods  their  own  cruel  and  vindictive 
feelings,  joined  to  a  superhuman  power.  So  their  gods  are 
remorseless,  delighting  in  human  victims,  only  appeased  by 
the  sight  of  blood  and  human  suffering.  The  Jews  regard- 
ed Jehovah  in  a  much  higher  light  —  as  a  holy  judge  car- 
rying out  his  laws,  severe,  nevertheless,  and  stern,  reward- 
ing the  good,  punishing  the  evil.  As  among  heathen  na- 
tions power  is  the  chief  attribute  in  the  deity,  so  among 
the  Jews  justice  is  the  chief  attribute.  But  with  the 
Christian,  love  is  the  chief  attribute.  Heathenism  says 
God  is  power.  Judaism  says  God  is  justice.  Christianity 
says  God  is  love.  According  to  these  three  different  views 
of  God  is  the  spirit  and  influence  of  each  system.  Hea- 
thenism is  a  religion  of  fear  ;  Judaism  is  the  religion  of 
conscience  ;  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  grateful  affection. 
Where  God  is  regarded  essentially  as  an  almighty  ruler, 
the  chief  duty  of  man  is  implicit,  unquestioning  obedience. 
Where  God  is  regarded  chiefly  as  a  judge,  the  principal 
duty  of  man  is  righteous  conduct.  Where  he  is  regarded 
as  a  father,  the  chief  duty  of  man  is  childlike  trust  and 
love.  So  that  there  is  a  gradual  progress  in  the  concep- 
tion which  men  have  had  of  the  Deity.  Beginning  with 
power,  they  ascend  to  justice,  and  terminate  in  love.  And 
when  perfect  love  is  attained,  it  casts  out  all  fear. 


THE    SPIRIT    OF  POWER.  1 27 

All  these  forms  of  religion  recognize  in  the  Deity  the 
attributes  of  power,  holiness  and  goodness.  But  the  su- 
preme and  ruling  attribute  differs  in  each,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  making  one  or  the  other  attribute  supreme.  But,  even 
in  Christianity,  men  have  relapsed  towards  Paganism  or 
Judaism  in  their  conceptions  of  the  Deity.  It  ought  to  be 
understood  that  there  may  be  a  Christian  Paganism  or  a 
Christian  Judaism  ;  that  is,  there  may  be  views  of  God  taken 
by  Christians  which  make  the  attribute  of  power  or 
justice  superior  to  the  attribute  of  love.  The  essential 
doctrines  of  Calvinism  may  thus  be  considered  as  a 
relapse  into  Paganism.  Calvinism  is  a  backslidden  theol- 
ogy. It  makes  the  highest  attribute  in  the  Deity  to  be 
neither  wisdom,  justice  nor  goodness,  but  arbitrary  power. 
According  to  Calvanism,  the  reason  to  be  assigned  for  the 
Divine  conduct  in  the  last  analysis  is  simply  that  he  chooses 
to  do  so.  Philosophical  Calvinism  places  an  omnipotent 
wilfulness  on  the  throne  of  the  universe.  It  does  not  say 
God's  will  is  holy,  just  and  good,  and  therefore  we  are 
bound  to  obey  it,  but  it  says  it  is  the  will  of  an  omnipotent 
being,  who  will  cast  you  into  hell  if  you  do  not  obey.  For 
where  the  chief  attribute  of  God  is  arbitrary  power,  the 
chief  duty  of  man  is  a  blind  obedience.  Thus  Calvinism 
rehabilitates  Paganism  under  the  forms  of  Christianity.  It 
takes  away  the  spirit  of  adoption  whereby  we  cry  "  Abba, 
Father,"  and  gives  us -the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to  fear. 

In  like  manner  as  there  is  a  Christian  Paganism  there  is 
a  Christian  Judaism  ;  that  is,  a  system  which  makes  jus- 
tice the  chief  among  the  attributes  of  God.  God  is  sim- 
ply infinite  law,  rewarding  the  good  and  punishing  the  evil 
in  this  world  and  in  every  other;  incapable  of  mercy  in  any 
true  sense  ;  unable  really  to  forgive  sin  ;  incapable  of  any 
real  answer  to  prayer,  of  any  personal  intercourse  with  the 
human  soul.     God,  in  this  system,  is  no  more  a  father,  but 


128  THE   SPIRIT   OF   FEAR,    ETC. 

a  holy  destiny,  a  righteous  fate,  an  absolute  judge.  This 
system  is  often  taught  and  received,  sometimes  as  Uni- 
tarianism,  sometimes  as  Rationalism,  sometimes  as  Phre- 
nology. But  it  may  always  be  recognized,  under  whatever 
name,  by  this,  that  it  makes  justice  the  highest  attribute 
in  God,  and  obedience  to  Divine  laws  the  chief  duty  of 
man. 

These  two  systems  of  belief  will  in  general  produce  their 
appropriate  results.  A  backsliding  theology  will  produce 
a  backslidden  character  in  those  who  hold  it.  A  Paganized 
theology  produces  a  spirit  of  fear,  of  anxiety,  a  servile 
piety.  It  palsies  the  best  life  of  the  soul,  makes  the  man 
afraid  to  seek  for  truth,  fills  him  with  superstitious  ter- 
rors, and  changes  a  religion  of  joy  and  progress  into  one 
of  gloom  and  austerity.  Christianity  ceases  to  be  attrac- 
tive; a  shadow  falls  over  the  world,  life  is  dark,  and  death 
awful.  Piety,  instead  of  being  childlike  love,  becomes 
servile  fear  ;  for  just  as  perfect  love  casts  out  fear,  so  will 
perfect  fear  cast  out  love. 


XIII. 

"UNCERTAIN  SOUNDS." 

**If  the  trumpet  give  an  uncertain  sound,  who  shall  pre- 
pare HIMSELF  FOR  BATTLE  ?  " 

THERE  are  many  sounds  in  Nature  which  are  uncer- 
tain and  yet  pleasing.  The  murmur  of  the  winds 
among  the  leaves  of  the  forests ;  the  soft,  regular  lapse  of  the 
waves  on  the  sandy  shore  ;  the  roar  of  Niagara,  confused  with 
the  cry  of  blended  and  intertangled  voices,  as  though  every 
particle  of  water  in  falling  uttered  its  own  wail  of  grief,  or 
shout  of  exultation  or  scream  of  fear ;  the  hum  of  insects 
on  a  summer's  day  ;  all  such  sounds  are  uncertain.  Yet 
all  awaken  in  us  some  feeling,  convey  some  sentiment. 
The  murmuring  voices  of  Nature  seem  to  express  longing 
and  aspiration  ;  they  sound  almost  like  prayer  and  praise. 
No  wonder  that  the  Bible  should  animate  Nature  with  a 
soul ;  summoning  the  sea  to  praise  God  ;  making  the  hills 
clap  their  hands  ;  the  storms  to  move  as  God's  messengers, 
shouting  their  triumphant  strains  of  tempestuous  applause  ; 
and  calling  the  thunder  the  voice  of  God.  These  sounds 
of  Nature  are  so  plaintive,  seem  so  like  the  inarticulate 
voice  of  a  child  longing  to  express  itself,  that  the  Apostle 
Paul  seems  to  say  thit  Nature  groans  and  sighs  and  wails 
to  be  emancipated  from  some  burden  of  grief.  As  your 
dog  looks  at  you  with  wistful  eyes,  as  though  he  longed  to 

commune  with  you  and  could  not,  so  the  whole  creation 

9  (129) 


130 

looks  up  to  God  with  its  aspect  of  longing,  and  utters  all 
its  inarticulate  murmuring  voices  of  gratitude.  Bettina 
Brentano,  in  one  of  her  letters,  says  :  "  When  I  stand  in  the 
night  alone  with  open  Nature,  it  seems  a  spirit,  praying  me 
to  give  it  redemption.  Often  I  have  had  the  feeling  that 
Nature  was  begging  me  for  something  tearfully,  and  it 
grieved  my  soul  not  to  be  able  to  understand  what  she  was 
asking." 

The  poets  sometimes  regard  these  uncertain  sounds  as 
the  voice  of  God  : — 

"  What  if  all  of  animated  Nature 
Be  but  organic  harps  diversely  framed, 
That  tremble  into  thought,  as  o'er  them  sweeps 
Plastic  and  vast,  one  intellectual  breeze, 
At  once  the  soul  of  each,  and  God  of  all." 

And,  sometimes,  reversing  this  Pantheistic  tendency,  they 
make  Nature  a  living  thing,  crying  to  God  from  the  moun- 
tain tops  and  ocean  depths,  as  Coleridge,  in  the  vale  of 
Chamouni,  calls  on  the  majestic  Alps  to  be  a  dread  am- 
bassador from  earth  to  heaven  ;  and  tells  the  silent  sky, 
the  stars,  and  the  sun,  tfiat  "  Earth  with  her  thousand 
voices  praises  God." 

These  voices  of  nature,  therefore,  though  uncertain,  are 
often  full  ot  expression.  But  of  man's  voice  we  require 
more.  We  ask  that  it  shall  be  distinct  and  clear  ;  that  it 
shall  convey  meaning,  that  it  shall  not  darken  counsel  with 
vague  utterance.  God  has  given  to  man  the  Word,  the 
marvellous  gift  of  articulate  speech.  This  is  one  of  his  dis^ 
ti notions  from  the  lower  orders.  Their  speech  is  inarticu- 
late. Their  parts  of  speech  are  all  confined  to  interjections. 
They  say,  O  !  and  Ah  !  but  they  have  no  words.  The  proof 
of  this  (as  I  have  before  said)  is,  that  if  birds,  for  example, 
had  a  verbal  language,  we  could  learn  it,  in  time,  just  as 


"UNCERTAIN     SOUNDS.  131 

we  can  learn  the  Chinese  or  Hottentot  language.  God  has 
given  verbal  language  to  men,  and  they  should  no  longer 
use  uncertain  sounds. 

To  speak  plainly,  distinctly,  with  precision,  is  one  of  the 
first  accomplishments  to  be  studied,  and  one  of  the  last  to 
be  fully  attained.  Education  begins  and  ends  in  telling  us 
how  to  express  ourselves.  For  the  word,  in  ancient  lan- 
guages, means  not  only  utterance,  but  also  the  reason  which 
lies  behind  utterance.  Where  the  Bible  says,  "  The  Word 
was  with  God,  and  was  God,"  it  means  that  every  revela- 
tion of  God  is  God  himself,  coming  to  man.  Revelation  is 
not  something  which  God  said  a  long  time  ago,  which  is 
put  in  a  book ;  but  it  is  God  speaking  to  us  now,  through 
the  Bible,  through  Christ,  through  history,  through  life,  and 
experience  ;  through  every  inspiration  of  love  and  hope  and 
trust  and  sorrow.  So  every  true  speech  of  man,  is  man 
himself.  My  friend  gives  himself  to  me  in  his  speech.  If 
his  speech  is  obscure,  perplexed,  uncertain,  vague,  then  he 
is  not  in  it.  But  a  fulness  of  thought  and  life  makes  lan- 
guage very  clear.  That  is  why  we  like  simple,  direct, 
straightforward  talk.  It  is  sincere,  it  is  moral.  Vagueness 
often  comes  from  a  double  mind,  which  does  not  know 
exactly  what  it  thinks,  and  so  does  not  know  what  to  say. 
It  has  no  inward  truth  ;  so  has  no  outward  truth.  Vague- 
ness is  of  the  devil ;  for  the  term  devil  is,  perhaps,  derived 
from  a  word  which  means  to  divide  or  make  double ;  and 
is  opposed  to  singleness  and  sincerity. 

To  learn  to  be  intelligible,  therefore,  is  one  of  the  most 
essential  elements  in  moral  as  well  as  intellectual  culture. 
"Let  your  yea  be  yea,  and  your  nay,  nay,"  says  Jesus; 
"for  whatsoever  is  more  than  this  cometh  of  evil."  Uncer- 
tain sounds,  inexact  expressions,  extravagant  utterances, 
come  of  evil.  They  mean  that  the  speaker  cares  more  for 
effect  than  for  truth.     They  mean  that  he  is  speaking  in 


132 

order  to  produce  an  impression  on  his  hearers,  not  to  con- 
vey his  own  conviction ;  that  he  is  trying  to  please,  to  per- 
suade, to  make  them  like  him,  and  admire  him. 

Young  people,  especially,  get  into  a  habit  of  using  ex- 
travagant expressions,  which  do  not,  after  all,  produce  as 
much  effect  as  a  more  restrained  and  exact  statement.  If 
I  should  tell  you  that  I  saw  a  million  men  on  the  Common, 
yesterday,  it  would  not  impress  you  so  much  as  if  I 
said  that  there  must  have  been,  at  least,  ten  thousand. 
Professional  story-tellers  get  a  habit  of  exaggeration ; 
their  stories  run  so  into  the  marvellous  that  at  last 
they  do  not  astonish  us  at  all,  for  we  do  not  believe  them 
at  all. 

Perhaps  the  most  uncertain  sounds  of  all  are  the  words 
of  a  politician.  Politics,  the  government  of  a  State,  the 
laws  which  affect  a  nation,  ought  to  be  the  most  elevating 
of  pursuits.  But  it  is  like  religion  or  art  or  poetry.  They 
ennoble  those  who  give  themselves  to  them  with  sincerity 
and  love ;  but  make  a  trade  of  them,  and  they  degrade  to 
the  utmost.  Make  a  trade  of  religion,  and  you  become  a 
hypocrite.  Make  a  trade  of  art  and  you  become  a  charla- 
tan. So  make  a  trade  of  politics,  and  you  have  a  man  who 
goes  about,  with  a  smile  on  his  face,  agreeing  to  what  every 
one  says,  and,  when  he  says  anything  himself,  putting  it  in 
such  a  cloud  of  words  that  the  thought,  if  any  were  ever 
there,  is  effectually  concealed.  One  of  the  remarkable  ex- 
ploits of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  that  he  expressed  himself 
so  as  to  be  understood.  His  healthy  Saxon  English  dis- 
pelled the  miasma  of  falsehood  which  hung  over  Washing- 
ton. "  And  one  of  Plutarch's  men  talked  with  you,  face  to 
face." 

In  great  conflicts,  when  principles  are  at  stake,  uncertain 
sounds  are  the  refuge  of  timidity.  There  are  always  a  great 
many  people  who  like  to  be  neutral,  who  cannot  make  up 


133 

their  minds  ;  who  think  there  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  on 
both  sides  ;  who  affect  a  position  of  peculiar  liberality  and 
largeness,  by  agreeing  with  every  one,  and  especially  with 
the  one  who  speaks  last.  They  sometimes  call  this  moder- 
ation, and  sometimes  they  call  it  charity.  It  is  neither  one 
nor  the  other ;  it  is  cowardice  and  indifference.  Modera- 
tion sees  both  sides  of  a  question ;  hears  candidly  all  that 
can  be  said  ;  and  then  makes  up  its  mind  definitely,  one 
way  or  the  other.  Or,  if  it  cannot  make  up  its  mind,  then 
it  says  so  ;  but  it  claims  no  credit  for  this. 

Charity  does  not  mean  indifference  to  truth  and  error.  A 
man  is  not  charitable  who  is  indifferent ;  he  can  only  be 
charitable  to  the  Other  side  when  he  has  a  side  of  his  own. 
If  I  do  not  care  about  the  question  at  issue,  I  cannot  be 
charitable  to  my  opponent,  because,  I  have  no  opponent. 
But  when  a  man  is  in  earnest,  when  he  believes  strongly 
his  own  opinion,  when  he  is  ready  to  labor  for  it  and  make 
sacrifices  for  it,  then  only  he  can  be  truly  charitable ;  then 
it  requires  some  effort,  and  shows  some  Christian  spirit,  to 
be  able  to  enter  into  the  mind  of  an  opponent,  make  al- 
lowances for  his  errors,  and  admit  his  truth  ;  and,  while 
continuing  to  oppose  his  doctrine,  to  be  willing  to  love  and 
help  the  man. 

In  the  great  religious  questions  which  divide  the  world, 
there  is  an  essentiaftruth  on  one  side  or  the  other.  *  One 
is  essentially  right,  and  the  other  wrong.  We  ought,  if  we 
can,  to  see  which  is  .right,  and  say  so.  We  ought  not  to  be 
neutral.  We  ought  to  select  our  flag,  and  to  stand  by  it. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  be  sectarian  because  we  like  one 
side  better  than  the  other.  It  is  not  necessary  to  be 
bigoted  because  we  have  a  distinct  and  fixed  opinion. 
Make  up  your  mind,  and  then  stand  ready  to  be  convinced 
if  you  are  wrong.  Take  your  stand,  and  if  you  see  reason, 
alter  it ;  but  take  some  stand  somewhere.     For,  says  Lord 


134 

Bacon,  "  In  this  great  theatre  of  life  it  is  permitted  to  God 
and  the  angels  to  be  spectators,  but  all  men  must  be  actors.'' 

People  defend  their  indifference  by  saying,  "  Truth  is 
mighty  and  will  prevail."  Yes,  it  is  mighty ;  it  will  pre- 
vail. But  when  it  prevails,  how  soon  it  shall  prevail,  de- 
pends on  men.  If  men  allow  themselves  to  be  indifferent 
to  the  truth  ;  if  they  do  not  care  much,  one  way  or  the 
other,  for  this  or  that  opinion  ;  if  they  will  not  inquire  ;  — 
then  no  doubt  truth  will  prevail,  but  it  will  be  after  error 
has  reigned  for  centuries,  and  has  finally  fallen,  not  by  their 
means,  but  by  its  own  inward  tendency  to  decay  and  to 
corruption. 

A  clear,  distinct  meaning  is  so  important  in  a  speaker 
that  it  is,  of  itself,  almost  enough.  An  audience  will  listen 
very  willingly  to  a  man  who  makes  himself  perfectly  plain, 
even  if  he  does  nothing  else.  He  need  not  be  rhetorical, 
he  need  use  no  figures  of  speech,  no  captivating  oratorical 
arts  ;  he  need  not  be  original,  or  profound.  Let  him  only 
be  clear  —  that,  of  itself,  is  satisfactory. 

Some  great  thinkers  have  made  clearness  the  evidence  of 
truth.  Anything  which  can  be  made  perfectly  plain  must 
be  true,  say  they.  This  can  hardly  be,  for  we  know  that 
error  may  be  made  as  clear  and  as  intelligible  as  truth.  If  I 
say,  "  Five  times  five  are  thirty,"  I  am  intelligible,  but  I  do 
not  tell  the  truth.  If  I  say,  "  There  is  no  God,"  I  am  in- 
telligible enough.  Opposite  and  contradictory  propositions 
may  each  be  perfectly  intelligible.  It  is  just  as  intelligible 
a  proposition  to  say,  "  Death  is  the  end  of  man  ;  he  does 
not  live  after  death,"  as  to  say,  "  Man  is  immortal,  and  can 
never  cease  to  be."  Nevertheless,  intelligibility  is  one 
test  of  truth.  A  man  who  knows  anything  can  generally 
make  it  evident.  Knowledge,  certainty,  these  fill  our 
words  with  light. 

In  religion,  especially,  we  want  no  uncertain  sounds. 


"uncertain   sounds.  135 

What  all  men  need,  what  all  men  long  for,  is  certainty.  We 
need  to  know  ;  not  merely  to  speculate,  not  merely  to  think, 
to  hope,  to  wish,  to  fancy ;  we  need  to  know. 

But  how  hard  it  is  to  be  certain  of  anything  in  these 
days  of  doubt,  dispute  and  perpetual  questioning.  For- 
merly, men  were  satisfied  to  believe  whatever  was  told 
them.  They  accepted  all  the  doctrines  of  the  Church 
without  investigation.  They  rested  in  a  contented  and 
childlike  faith.  But  now,  this  is  no  longer  possible. 
We  are  all  compelled  to  think,  and  to  hear  the  results 
of  other  men's  thinking.  Everywhere  is  doubt,  uncer 
tainty  or  unbelief.  Geology  throws  doubt  on  the  Old 
Testament ;  textual  criticism  on  the  New.  Able  men  de- 
liver courses  of  lectures  to  prove  that  we  can  only  know 
the  phenomena  of  the  senses  ;  never  anything  real  behind 
Nature.  Other  men  take  the  New  Testament  to  pieces, 
first  leaving  out  all  the  miracles  of  Jesus,  next  denying  the 
authenticity  of  the  Gospel  of  John  and  the  Epistles  of  Paul, 
and  finally  declaring  that  Christ  himself  was  not  greater 
than  Socrates  ;  and  conclude  by  saying  that  we  can  know 
nothing  certain  of  God,  duty  or  immortality,  and  that  re- 
ligion consists  in  admitting  that  we  know  nothing. 

But,  if  so,  life  becomes  infinitely  poor,  mean  and  wretch- 
ed. Man  becomes  lower  than  the  beasts,  for  they  have  no 
wish  to  know,  are  not  made  to  know ;  but  man  is  mocked 
with  a  perpetual  aspiration  and  expectation,  always  aspir- 
ing to  what  he  can  never  reach,  always  expecting  what 
never  comes.  If  these  doctrines  are  true,  then  "  Let  us 
eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die." 

Now  the  difference  between  Christianity  and  speculation 
is  simply  this  —  that  speculation,  by  its  very  nature,  gives 
an  uncertain  sound ;  but  Christianity  gives  certainty. 
Speculation  gives  us  thoughts  about  God,  Christianity 
gives  us  the  knowledge  of  God. 


136 

I  once  read  a  lecture  by  an  able  writer,  in  which  Christ 
and  Socrates  were  compared,  rather  to  the  disadvantage  of 
the  former.  Socrates  was  considered  to  be,  on  the  whole, 
rather  the  stronger  and  more  manly  person  of  the  two. 
But,  if  so,  why  did  he  not  do  more  ?  Socrates  produced  a 
school  in  philosophy  ;  Christ  made  a  religion  for  mankind. 
One  gave  thought,  the  other  life.  Socrates  and  Plato  and 
all  Ge^k  literature  might  have  perished  in  the  great  deso- 
lation and  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  had  not  Christ  come 
to  establish  a  religion  which  has  saved  all  the  best  results  of 
ancient  civilization,  and,  among  the  rest,  the  teachings  of 
Socrates.  The  life  of  Socrates  is  known  to  a  few  scholars, 
the  life  of  Jesus  is  known  to  millions.  The  words  of 
Jesus  bring  strength,  comfort,  purity,  peace  ;  not  to  stu- 
dents, only,  but  to  the  ignorant,  the  lowly,  the  fallen,  the 
desolate. 

Why  this  immense  difference  in  the  work  of  the  two 
teachers  ?  Because  the  words  of  the  one  give  an  uncer- 
tain sound,  those  of  the  other  a  certain  sound.  One 
teaches  us  how  to  speculate,  to  conjecture,  and  to  think 
about  the  realities  of  eternity ;  the  other  lets  us  look  into 
the  realities  themselves,  face  to  face.  Striking  opinions, 
noble  speculations  came  by  Socrates,  but  truth  itself  came 
by  Jesus  Christ.  One  was  a  great  thinker  about  truth,  the 
other  a  revelation  of  truth  itself.  Therefore,  while  the  one 
is  known  only  in  the  closets  of  scholars,  the  other  marches 
at  the  head  of  the  civilization  of  the  world.  It  is  because 
Jesus  speaks  of  what  he  knows,  and  testifies  to  what  he 
has  seen ;  while  Socrates  declares  what  seems  to  him  to 
be,  on  the  whole,  probable. 

Jesus  Christ  was  the  Word  made  flesh.  He  was  distinct 
utterance.  He  spoke  of  all  things  as  one  speaks  who 
knows,  and  does  not  merely  think,  believe,  or  speculate. 


"UNCERTAIN    SOUNDS.  137 

That  is  why  the  words  of  Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  are  for 
scholars  and  thinkers,  but  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the 
universal  heart  of  humanity. 

Jesus  Christ,  in  his  teachings,  gives  no  uncertain  sound 
about  God.  To  him  God  is  as  real  and  as  near  as  man. 
He  knows  God  just  as  he  knows  himself.  He  and  his  Fa- 
ther are  one. 

Jesus  sees  God  in  nature.  Nature  is  not  law  alone,  dead 
law  j  nor  force  alone,  blind  force  ;  but  it  is  a  divine  revela- 
tion. When  Jesus  saw  the  sun's  beneficent  radiance  pouring 
over  plain  and  forest  and  hillside,  he  saw  how  it  cheered  and 
warmed  all  hearts  with  its  impartial  ray ;  and  when  he  saw 
the  rain  pouring  from  the  sky,  he  saw  it  penetrating  into 
the  fields  of  the  good  and  bad  alike  ;  and  so  sun  and  rain 
spoke  to  him  of  a  Father  who  loved  both  the  just  and  the 
unjust.  He  spoke  of  the  Father  who  sees  in  secret,  and 
will  reveal  openly ;  of  the  Father  who  reveals  his  truth  to 
babes ;  of  the  Father  whose  spirit  speaks  from  the  lips  of 
all  sincere  men.  To  him  God  was  such  perfect  tenderness, 
such  boundless  Providence,  that  no  little  bird  would  die  in 
its  nest  but  that  God  was  with  it ;  no  lily  bloom  by  the  side 
of  a  stream  but  that  God  dressed  it  in  its  raiment  of  purple 
and  gold.  No  human  being  is  an  orphan,  for  God  is  the 
good  Father  who  sees  him  when  he  is  a  great  way  off,  and, 
as  soon  as  he  begins  to  return,  falls  on  the  neck  of  his 
child  and  kisses  him.  He  is  a  God  who  does  not  need  to 
be  appeased  with  long  prayers,  or  Sabbath-keeping,  or 
ceremonies,  but  who  asks  us  to  worship  him  by  helping  our 
neighbor  and  loving  him  as  ourselves.  He  is  a  God  above 
all,  through  all,  and  in  all,  never  far  away  from  any  of  us. 
He  hides  himself  behind  his  works  that  we  may  be  left 
free,  for  he  loves  to  have  us  free  to  unfold  our  natures 
naturally.  He  is  no  despot,  watching  to  punish ;  but  his 
smile  gives  life  to  us  when  our  hearts  grow  cold.    We  may 


I38  "UNCERTAIN 

easily  forget  him,  but  his  memory  is  better  than  ours,  he 
never  will  forget  us. 

So  Jesus  inspires  faith  in  God,  speaking  out  of  his  own 
experience.  As  he  speaks,  God  seems  to  come  near.  We 
know  our  Father,  and  there  is  no  doubt,  no  uncertainty  as 
to  his  being  or  character. 

In  the  same  way  Jesus  teaches  us  duty.  His  law  of  right 
is  not  a  system  of  ethics,  but  it  is  all  summed  up  in  love. 
He  who  loves  God  and  loves  man  fulfils  the  law.  No  one 
can  go  wrong  permanently  and  always  who  loves  God  and 
loves  man  j  for  his  love  will  lead  to  right.  Therefore,  he 
tells  of  those  who,  in  the  day  of  judgment,  will  be  found 
to  be  Christians  without  knowing  it  themselves,  because 
they  fed  the  hungry  and  clothed  the  naked.  He  teaches 
that  it  is  not  how  much  we  do,  but  how  we  do  it  which  is 
of  consequence  ;  that  goodness  is  in  quality,  not  in  quan- 
tity. 

So  Christ  gives  no  uncertain  sound  as  regards  future 
life. 

Death,  Jesus  says,  is  simply  nothing.  Only  as  we  be- 
lieve it  something  is  it  so  to  us.  "  He  who  believeth  in 
me  does  not  die."  Faith  carries  us  through  death  and  we 
know  nothing  of  it ;  we  leave  this  world  alive  and  we  enter 
the  other  alive.  So  Jesus  is  the  Life  and  Resurrection  both; 
the  Life  because  he  inspires  us  with  faith  in  all  living  truth, 
and  thus  fills  the  soul  with  life ;  and  he  is  the  Resurrec- 
tion because  the  power  which  raises  us  up  in  this  world 
and  the  next,  which  carries  us  above  death  and  above  the 
grave,  above  all  power  of  change  and  loss,  is  the  same  per- 
fect trust  in  God  and  his  love. 

The  resurrection  of  Jesus  produced  an  immense  convic- 
tion, not  merely  because  it  destroyed  the  fear  of  death,  but 
because  it  showed  that  all  life  was  moving  up  and  on,  and 
that  God  was  on  the  side  of  all  truth  and  goodness.    What 


"UNCERTAIN    SOUNDS.  1 39 

seemed  to  fail  was  really  succeeding  ;  what  seemed  to  die 
was  only  entering  into  further  life  ;  what  seemed  to  go  away 
was  really  coming  nearer  than  before. 

So  clear,  so  full,  so  decided  are  the  teachings  of  Christ. 
There  is  no  doubt  or  hesitation  when  he  speaks.  But  there 
is  no  dogmatism.  When  men  could  not  understand  him, 
Jesus  preferred  not  to  teach  them.  He  wanted  no  blind 
submission,  but  an  intelligent  assent.  He  wished  for  no 
more  belief  in  truth  than  they  were  able  to  put  into  life. 
His  truth  was  to  be  appropriated  by  life,  not  by  specu- 
lation. 

It  is  the  nature  of  Faith  to  communicate  itself  to  those 
whose  minds  are  open.  It  is  seeing  ourselves  which 
helps  others  to  see.  It  is  impossible  to  counterfeit  this. 
Hypocrisy,  Enthusiasm,  Dogmatism,  Routine  all  try  to 
counterfeit  the  clear  utterance  of  faith;  but  they  never 
succeed. 

A  tone  of  genuine  conviction  cannot  be  imitated ;  the 
conviction  must  be  there  to  give  the  tone. 

Here  is  the  real  power  of  Christ  and  Christianity,  a 
power  which  can  never  grow  old,  never  die.  The  power  of 
Christianity  is  not  in  the  miracles  which  Jesus  worked  on 
outward  nature.  It  is  not  in  any  mysterious,  terrible  or 
supernatural  doctrines  ;  these  may  awaken  wonder,  and 
move  the  imagination  ;  but  they  do  not  convince  the  reason 
or  touch  the  heart.  The  power  —  the  undying  power  —  of 
Christianity  is  that  it  is  everywhere  a  new  revelation  of  the 
eternal  truth  and  love  of  God  \  that  it  continually  makes 
souls  alive ;  that  it  continually  renews  itself  in  renewed 
souls.  Therefore  it  can  never  grow  old,  any  more  than 
birth,  marriage,  death,  love,  can  grow  old.  These  have 
been  in  the  world  since  the  beginning,  but  they  always 
come  as  new  as  at  first.  And  Christianity,  appealing  ever 
to  new  hearts,  reforming  manners,  curing  sinners,  saving 


140  "  UNCERTAIN 

the  lost,  kindling  the  soul  with  faith,  hope  and  love,  is  the 
one  certain  sound  in  the  world,  never  vague,  never  confused. 
Theology  is  uncertain  j  speculation  is  uncertain ;  creeds 
are  uncertain  ;  but  Christianity  is  the  same  yesterday,  to- 
day, and  for  ever. 


XIV. 

ETHNIC   AND  CHRISTIAN  VIEWS   OF  DIVINE   INFLU- 
ENCE. 

"  By  one  Spirit,  we  are  all  baptized  into  one  body." 

SO  much  of  our  knowledge  comes  through  the  senses,  it 
is  not  wonderful  that  many  persons  believe  that  all  our 
knowledge  comes  through  the  senses.  So  large  a  part  of 
our  time  is  occupied  with  this  outward  world  of  sights  and 
sounds,  no  wonder  many  think  that  this  is  all  we  have  to 
do  with.  Nature,  the  outward  universe,  appeals  to  us 
through  a  thousand  channels,  calls  on  us  by  a  thousand 
voices.  Nature,  glowing  with  beauty,  overflowing  with  life, 
with  enormous  forces  acting  under  grand  laws,  with  its 
sublime  mysteries  and  magnificent  revelations,  is  not  this 
the  all?  What  is  spirit,  what  is  soul,  but  a  higher  develop- 
ment of  matter  ?  What  do  we  know  of  either,  except  what 
we  see  through  forms  of  material  organization  ? 

This  is  modern  materialism,  which  does  not  deny  spirit 
but  maintains  that  all  we  know  of  it  is  what  comes  to  us 
from  without,  through  forms  of  matter.  It  is  not  wonder- 
ful that  there  should  be  materialists,  since  the  world  of  mat- 
ter presses  on  us  all  so  perpetually ;  acts  on  us  so  irresisti- 
bly ;  demands  so  much  of  our  time,  thought,  and  love ; 
conveys  to  us  so  much  of  our  knowledge  j  bathes  us  in  its 
beauty  ;  excites  us  by  its  activities  ;  enlarges  the  horizon 
of  our  thoughts  ;  and  leads  us  on  through  the  finite  to  the 

infinite,  from  things  seen  and  temporal  to  things  not  seen 

(14O 


142  ETHNIC   AND   CHRISTIAN    VIEWS 

and  eternal.  That  we  can  only  ascend  to  God,  Spirit,  the 
Infinite  and  the  Eternal,  through  forms  of  matter,  by  the 
law  of  evolution,  is  no  unnatural  opinion,  and  seems  even 
hinted  at  by  Milton's  angel,  who  tells  Adam  that  all  things 
are  created  by  God  out  of  "  one  first  matter." 

"  Endued  with  various  forms,  various  degrees 
Of  substance ;  and,  in  things  that  live,  of  life. 
But  more  refined,  more  spirituous  and  pure, 
As  nearer  to  Him  placed,  and  nearer  tending, 
Each  in  their  several  active  spheres  assigned, 
Till  body  up  to  spirit  work. 

So,  from  the  root, 

Springs  lighter  the  green  stalk,  from  thence  the  leaves 
More  airy ;  last,  the  bright  consummate  flower 
Spirits  odorous  breathes ;  "flowers  and  their  fruit, 
Man's  nourishment,  by  gradual  scale  sublimed, 
To  vital  spirits  aspire,  to  animal, 
To  intellectual  —  give  both  life  and  sense, 
Fancy  and  understanding  —  whence  the  soul 
Reason  perceives,  and  Reason  is  her  being." 

This  seems  to  have  been  an  anticipation  by  Milton  of 
the  doctrine  of  evolution,  now  so  popular,  by  which  all 
things,  beginning  in  what  we  call  matter,  proceed  upward 
by  a  continuous  process  into  what  we  call  spirit. 

It  is  not  curious,  then,  that  multitudes  of  men  should 
have  been  materalists  ;  for  matter  impresses  itself  con- 
stantly and  necessarily  on  all.  But  the  really  curious  fact 
is  that  the  great  majority  of  mankind  should  have  always 
been  Spiritualists  ;  believing  in  spirit  more  than  in  matter 
—  in  the  infinite  more  than  the  finite;  believing  not  in 
evolution,  but  emanation  ;  accepting  as  the  origin  of  the 
universe  a  dropping  downward  out  of  the,  infinite,  into  the 
finite,  or  a  creation  of  the  world  by  the  Gods.  The  majority 
of  mankind  in  all  time,  and  among  all  races  and  all  reli- 
gions, have  believed  in  direct  inspirations  from  some  higher 


OF   DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  I43 

world  ;  light  descending  from  above  into  the  human  soul, 
creating  law-givers,  discoverers,  prophets,  teachers,  oracles. 
That  man  can  commune  inwardly  and  directly  with  the  un- 
seen Gods,  and  be  inspired  by  them,  may  be  said  to  have 
been  the  almost  universal  faith  of  the  human  race,  taught 
by  the  religions  of  India,  Persia,  China,  Egypt,  Greece, 
Rome,  Scandinavia ;  by  Zoroaster  and  Mohammed  ;  and  by 
all  the  savage  tribes  of  Asia,  Africa,  America  and  the  isl- 
ands of  the  Pacific. 

Christianity,  then,  promulgated  no  new  doctrine  in  de- 
claring that  men  might  be  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  God  so 
as  to  acquire  insight,  strength  and  love  from  within  the 
depths  of  the  soul.  That  had  been  universally  believed 
before.  But  Christianity,  in  its  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
differed  from  all  other  religions  as  to  the  nature  and  con- 
ditions of  this  inspiration. 

I.  Christianity  differs  from  all  other  religions,  in  main- 
taining the  universality  of  this  influence.  Other  religions,  so 
far  as  I  know,  have  limited  inspiration,  either  to  a  few  se- 
lect souls,  as  prophets  and  saints  ;  or,  secondly,  to  some 
select  class,  as  priests  ;  or,  thirdly,  to  those  who  sought  it 
by  seclusion,  by  meditation,  by  solitary  prayer,  by  self-de- 
nial, going  apart  into  caves  and  cells  to  macerate  the  body 
by  starvation  and  asceticism. 

The  Jews,  Greeks,  and  Romans  believed  in  prophets 
raised  up  and  specially  sent  as  seers  and  reformers.  The 
Egyptians  and  Brahmins  believed  in  an  inspired  priesthood, 
or  caste,  especially  holy.  The  Buddhists,  the  New  Platon- 
ists,  and  others,  believed  in  attaining  communion  with  God 
by  intense  meditation,  shutting  out  the  world,  and  forget- 
ting the  very  existence  of  body. 

But  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  in  the  first  words  which 
Peter  said,  he  declared  that  the  prophecy  of  Joel  was  ful- 
filled— "  It  shall  come  to  pass,  in  the  last  days,  saith  the 


144  ETHNIC   AND   CHRISTIAN   VIEWS 

Lord,  that  I  will  pour  out  my  spirit  on  all  flesh,  and  your 
sons  and  daughters  shall  prophesy."  Accordingly,  through 
the  Book  of  Acts,  and  in  all  the  Epistles,  we  find  that 
wherever  the  gospel  was  preached,  all  were  told  that  they 
were  to  receive  the  Holy  Spirit.  "  By  one  spirit,"  says 
Paul,  "  we  have  all  been  baptized  into  one  body,  whether 
we  be  Greeks  or  Jews,  slaves  or  freemen  ;  and  we  have  all 
drank  of  the  same  spirit."  All  Christians  were  regarded 
as  receiving  this  spiritual  influence.  When  Peter  went  to 
Cesarea  to  visit  the  Centurion,  Cornelius,  and  told  Corne- 
lius and  his  friends  about  Christ  and  the  pardoning  love  of 
God,  there  came  a  powerful  spiritual  impression  on  all  in 
the  room.  They  seemed  to  be  Romans,  but  they  were  all 
deeply  moved  ;  and  so  Peter  baptized  them  with  water,  be- 
cause, as  he  said,  they  had  already  been  baptized  by  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

It  is  nowhere  stated  in  the  New  Testament  that  only  the 
apostles  and  preachers  were  inspired.  All  Christians  were 
inspired ;  but  their  inspiration  showed  itself  in  different 
ways.  It  inspired  some  of  them  with  knowledge,  helping 
them  to  a  clear  sight  of  truth.  It  inspired  some  of  them 
with  wisdom,  helping  them  to  see  what  was  the  best  thing 
to  be  done  in  any  emergency.  It  inspired  some  of  them 
with  faith,  enabling  them  to  feel  the  presence  and  love  of 
God  amid  bereavement,  loneliness,  bitter  disappointment 
and  sharp  trial.  It  inspired  some  of  them  to  be  good  phy- 
sicians, tender  and  careful  nurses  of  the  sick.  If  they  saw 
a  man  or  a  woman  who  had  a  gift  of  healing,  they  said, 
"  She  is  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  heal  disease,  as  the 
Apostle  Paul  is  inspired  to  preach."  When  we  see  such  a 
noble  and  wonderful  woman  as  the  dear  friend  who  has 
lately  left  us ;  *  so  tender,  so  wise,  so  firm,  so  skilful,  so 

♦Dr.  Susan  Dimock,  lost  in  the  Schiller. 


OF    DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  145 

modest,  so  strong,  we  trace  it  back  to  something  in  her 
organization  or  education.  The  disciples  of  Jesus  would 
have  said,  "  Susan  Dimock  is  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
with  a  gift  of  healing,"  and  I  think  their  explanation  would 
probably  be  as  correct  as  ours.  Do  you  not  suppose  that 
the  Lord  put  into  that  young  heart  some  deep  spiritual 
strength  and  wisdom  ?  It  seems  to  me  quite  rational  to 
think  so. 

Gifts  were  special,  but  the  inspiration  was  universal ;  one 
and  the  same  for  all,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest.  God 
was  in  every  heart  in  this  happy  community  of  brothers 
and  sisters. 

But,  after  a  while,  the  Ethnic  idea  of  inspiration  was  im- 
ported into  Christianity,  and  then  people  thought  they 
would  make  themselves  saints  by  living  in  caves  and  eat- 
ing roots,  by  living  on  the  tops  of  columns  or  by  becoming 
martyrs.  Then  it  was  supposed  that  God  selected  some 
Christians  to  be  saints,  and  inspired  them,  and  made  them 
a  sort  of  aristocracy  in  the  Church.  But,  at  first,  all  were 
saints,  and  no  one  was  called  so.  There  are  no  such  titles 
in  the  New  Testament  as  St.  Matthew  and  Mark,  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul;  all  that  has  been  put  in  since.  Paul  and 
Peter  were  no  more  saints  than  the  humblest  member  in 
the  church,  and  they  seem  to  me  to  be  degraded  by  such 
titles.  The  only  titles  in  the  early  church  were  brother  and 
sister. 

This,  therefore,  is  one  of  the  characters  of  the  true 
Christian  doctrine  of  divine  influence,  that  God's  influence 
comes  to  all  of  us  whenever  we  wish  for  it.  This  is  what 
Jesus  says  :  "  If  a  hungry  child  asks  his  father  and  mother 
for  bread,  will  they  give  him  a  stone  ?  No  !  Do  you  think, 
then,  that  if  any  of  you  ask  God  for  power  to  do  right  and 
be  right,  he  will  not  give  it  to  you  ?  So  certain  it  is  that 
God  will  give  his  holy  spirit  to  them  who  ask  him." 

10 


I46  ETHNIC   AND   CHRISTIAN    VIEWS 

2.  According  to  the  New  Testament,  the  divine  influence 
is  not  only  universal,  but  it  is  continuous,  constant,  an  ever- 
flowing  stream,  descending  into  every  open  soul.  It  is  not 
only  for  all  men,  but  it  is  at  all  times. 

The  Ethnic  view  of  divine  influence  makes  it  arbitrary, 
occasional,  intermittent ;  sometimes  coming,  then  going 
away.  This  Ethnic  view  has  also  been  imported  into 
Christianity. 

The  whole  modern  system  of  revivals  rests  on  the  notion 
that  God  is  specially  present  at  certain  times  and  places  ; 
that  he  comes  to  London  or  Boston  with  some  revival 
preacher ;  that  he  is  nearer  to  us  at  some  times  than  at 
others.  Father  Taylor  told  me  that  he  once  went  into  a 
church  in  Boston  where  a  revival  was  going  on,  and  heard 
the  minister  say,  "  The  Lord  is  in  Boston  now  ;  Jesus  is 
here  to-night ;  he  may  go  away  to-morrow ;  beware  lest 
you  lose  this  opportunity."  Father  Taylor,  who  never 
feared  the  face  of  mortal  man,  rose  in  his  place  and  said, 
"  Brethren,  that  is  not  my  Jesus  ;  my  Jesus  is  always  here. 
He  does  not  come  or  go.  Do  not  believe  that  he  can  ever 
leave  you  or  forsake  you." 

Undoubtedly  there  are  seasons  when  the  human  heart  is 
more  tender,  more  susceptible,  more  open  to  divine  influ- 
ence, than  at  other  times.  So  in  this  opening  season  of 
the  year,  the  seeds  and  buds  are  more  susceptible  to  the 
influence  of  the  sun.  The  buds  are  swelling  by  millions 
on  the  trees ;  every  day  they  become  a  little  larger ; 
presently  they  open  into  delicate,  soft  leaflets  ;  then  they 
hang  out  their  pretty  forms  more  and  more  unfolded.  Some 
immense  force  is  pushing  them  from  within,  and  attracting 
them  from  without.  The  small  plants  in  the  sick  girl's 
window  in  some  narrow  city  lane  feels  the  same  influence ; 
the  weeds  and  grasses  over  ten  thousand  miles  of  latitude 
feel  the  influence.     Every  twenty-four  hours  swells  this 


OF    DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  147 

tide  of  vegetable  life  which  flows  in  upon  us  like  the 
ocean.  m 

Thus,  too,  there  are  doubtless  Spring  seasons  in  the 
human  soul,  when  we  are  more  susceptible  to  divine  influ- 
ence than  at  other  times.  God  is  not  necessarily  nearer 
than  at  other  times,  but  our  hearts  are  turned  more  towards 
him.  The  sun  is  no  nearer  to  the  earth  now  than  it  was 
in  winter ;  indeed,  it  is  really  further  off ;  but  the  earth 
has  turned  up  towards  it,  so  that  in  these  northern  latitudes 
we  receive  his  rays  more  directly.  So,  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  the  souls  of  the  disciples,  saddened  by  the  loss 
of  their  mighty  friend,  and  comforted  by  communion  with 
him  after  his  resurrection,  were  so  turned  up  towards  God 
as  to  be  able  to  receive  more  fully  that  divine  influence. 
In  this  way  God  sends  seasons  of  refreshment  and  revival, 
and  makes  one  age  more  full  of  divine  life  than  another. 
But  it  is  a  relapse  into  Paganism  to  suppose  that  God 
gives  his  influence  at  one  time  and  withholds  it  at  another 
according  to  any  arbitrary  rule,  or  that  he  ever  really  goes 
away  from  us.  This  is  the  view  which  the  prophet  Elijah 
ridiculed,  when  the  priests  of  Baal  cried  and  shouted  to 
their  God  from  morning  to  evening,  saying,  "O  !  Baal,  hear 
us  !  "  "  Cry  aloud,"  said  Elijah  ;  "  perhaps  he  has  gone  on 
a  journey,  or  perhaps  he  is  asleep  and  must  be  awakened." 
But  Jesus  says,  "  I  and  my  Father  will  come  and  make  our 
abode  with  him." 

3.  A  third  peculiarity  of  the  Christian  v'ew  of  divine 
influence  is,  that  it  considers  inspiration  as  natural,  rational 
and  practical. 

It  is  rational.  It  does  not  come  to  confuse  the  mind, 
but  to  give  it  more  insight,  deeper  knowledge.  Part  of 
our  knowledge  comes  to  us  from  the  outward  world  by 
observation  ;  but  another  part,  and  often  the  best  part, 
comes  fb  us  from  within,  by  intuition. 


I48  ETHNIC    AND   CHRISTIAN    VIEWS 

We  learn  facts  and  events  from  without,  but  the  highest 
idea  come  to  us  from  within.  The  intuitions  of  substance, 
cause,  law,  justice,  co-ordinate  and  arrange  into  symmetry 
and  meaning  the  fast-flying  events  of  the  external  world. 
The  reason  is  fed  from  God  inwardly  with  these  ideas,  and 
they  are  its.  life. 

I  know  good  people  who  intellectually  doubt  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  an  immedicable  grief  comes  over 
them  at  the  death  of  friends.  But  though  they  have  no 
belief  in  immortality,  they  have  an  instinct  of  immortality 
which  God  gives  them  without  their  knowing  it.  For  they 
work  generously,  earnestly  for  good  purposes,  buoyed  up 
by  an  instinctive  hope.  Were  it  not  for  this,  they  would 
lose  the  spring  of  life.  Unconsciously  to  themselves,  they 
are  strengthened  inwardly  by  the  spirit  of  God. 

The  Ethnic  idea  of  inspiration  is  of  an  ecstasy,  which 
overpowers  the  reason,  and  makes  the  inspired  persons 
utter  predictions  the  meaning  of  which  they,  themselves,  do 
not  understand.  They  are  thrown  into  a  trance,  rapt  into 
a  frenzy  ;  the  mind  is  confused  by  the  paroxysm  of  the  in- 
coming God.  Something  of  this  confusion  appeared  also 
at  first  in  Christianity,  in  what  is  called  "  the  gift  of 
tongues ; "  but  it  was  condemned  by  Paul,  who,  with  his 
usual  consummate  good  sense,  said,  "  I  had  rather  speak 
five  words  with  my  understanding,  than  ten  thousand  words 
in  an  unknown  tongue."  "  I  will  pray  with  the  spirit, 
and  I  will  pray  with  the  understanding  also ;  I  will  sing 
with  the  spirit,  and  I  will  sing  with  the  understanding  also  ;  * 
for  "  the  spirits  of  the  prophets  are  subject  to  the  proph- 
ets." It  is  said  of  Jesus,  and  of  him  alone,  that  "the 
spirit  was  given  to  him  without  measure,"  and  in  all  that  is 
told  of  him  we  find  no  moment  of  blind  ecstasy,  no  irra- 
tional enthusiasm,  no  vague  raptures,  no  mystical  sentimen- 
talism,  but  such  a  luminous  simplicity  of  statement  that  his 


OF   DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  1 49 

words  are  easily  understood  by  common  people.  Calm, 
clear  reason  and  good  sense  are  the  marks  of  Christian  in- 
spiration. 

The  divine  influence,  according  to  Christianity,  is  not 
only  rational,  but  also  practical.  We  have  seen  that  one 
of  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  gift  of  "  healing."  We 
also  read  of  the  "  gifts  "  of  "  helping"  of  "governing"  of 
"  discerning  of  spirits."  One  man  who  believes  in  inspira 
tion,  and  looks  up  for  it,  will  be  filled  with  a  divine  power 
of  helping  those  in  difficulty,  of  showing  them  what  they 
ought  to  do,  of  lending  a  hand  to  a  weak  brother  or  sister. 
Another  man  will,  in  answer  to  his  inward  prayer,  be  gifted 
with  executive  ability  to  direct  and  guide  and  govern.  We 
know  how  some  persons  can  govern  without  seeming  to 
govern.  Some  are  born  leaders,  but  some  are  also  i?ispired 
leaders.  They  are  enabled  by  a  power  not  their  own  to 
guide,  repress,  restrain,  uplift,  and  bring  together  many 
hearts,  till  they  beat  as  one.  This  is  also  a  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

And  others  are  made  discerners  of  spirits.  The  eye  is 
made  clear  and  penetrating  to  discern  shams.  The  hypo- 
crite and  deceiver  is  unmasked  in  their  presence.  So  Jesus 
"  knew  what  was  in  man,  and  needed  not  that  any  should 
testify  of  him."  He  saw  clearly  the  weakness  of  Peter, 
and  foretold  his  fall,  but  also  saw  that  he  would  again  be 
strong  enough  to  strengthen  his  brethren.  He  saw  into 
the  dark  mind  of  Judas  ;  into  the  poor,  unhappy  soul  of 
the  woman  of  Samaria  ;  into  the  hesitations  of  Nicodemus, 
into  the  differences  of  character  in  Martha  and  Mary. 
This  "  discerning  of  spirits,"  or  knowledge  of  character, 
often  comes  from  a  deep  religious  experience.  It  is  not 
merely  a  natural  power,  but  also  a  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
I  have  known  some  very  simple-minded  people,  who  had 
been  strengthened  with  all  might  inwardly  by  the  power  of 


™ 


I50  ETHNIC    AND    CHRISTIAN   VIEWS 

God,  who  were  able  to  read  characters  as  easily  as  though 
they  were  open  books,  by  a  divine  sagacity  "  sharper  then 
any  two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asun- 
der of  soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow  ; "  a 
sagacity  which  was  "  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents 
of  the  heart,"  and  of  that  sort  that  there  is  not  "  any  crea- 
ture not  manifest  in  its  sight." 

These  various  powers  of  the  soul  are  all  as  much  quick- 
ened and  fed  and  vitalized  by  the  Holy  Spirit  as  that  of 
the  prophet,  who  speaks  with  the  tongue  of  men  and  angels, 
or  the  rapt  devotee,  who  wears  the  stones  with  his  knees 
in  constant  prayer.  It  is  one  spirit  by  which  all  God's 
servants  are  baptized  into  that  one  body,  the  invisible 
church  of  good  men  and  women. 

Although  this  influence  is  supernatural,  it  is  also  natural. 
Our  inward  life,  fed  from  a  higher  world,  is  unfolded  into 
outward  activity  here,  according  to  natural  law.  In  all 
these  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  there  is  nothing  unnat- 
ural, abnormal,  or  out  of  harmony  with  universal  law.  The 
divine  life,  flowing  down  through  human  souls  into  the 
world,  must  be,  and  is  in  harmony  with  the  same  divine 
life  flowing  down  into  the  world  through  external  nature. 
Consequently,  wherever  God  sends  a  fuller  tide  of  religious 
inspiration  into  any  period,it  is  followed  by  a  greater  growth 
of  art,  science,  knowledge  and  civilization.  All  the  great 
civilizations  of  the  world  —  those  of  India,  China,  Persia, 
Egypt,  Greece,  those  of  Buddhism,  Christendom,  and  Is- 
lam —  have  been  preceded  by  a  period  of  special  religious 
inspiration.  The  prophet  and  seer  prepare  the  way  for 
the  lawgiver,  discoverer,  man  of  science  and  man  of  art. 
And  when  the  tide  of  inspiration  recedes,  the  growth 
of  civilization  is  usually  arrested. 

What  we  ought  to  believe  therefore,  is,  that  God  is  always 
inwardly  near  to  us,  in  the  depths  of  our  soul,  and  always 


OF    DIVINE    INFLUENCE.  151 

ready  to  strengthen  us,  and  lighten  our  darkness,  when  we 
turn  inward  to  him.  But  it  is  a  mistake  to  speak  of  any 
irresistible  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  God  respects  our 
freedom,  and,  if  we  choose  to  resist  these  tender  attractions 
and  illuminations,  they  are  never  forced  upon  us.  We 
can,  if  we  choose,  resist  the  spirit,  and  quench  the  spirit, 
and,  to  use  still  another  wonderful  phrase  of  the  apostle, 
we  can  grieve  the  spirit.  So,  under  the  same  calamity,  one 
man  will  harden  his  heart,  and  refuse  to  be  comforted,  and 
remain  bitter  and  rebellious  ;  while  another  will  let  him- 
self be  led  by  the  spirit  into  the  sweetest  submission  and 
peace.  This  also  is  what  Jesus  meant  when  he  repeatedly 
said  to  those  who  heard  his  words,  but  persisted  in  misun- 
derstanding them,  "  They  have  shut  their  eyes  and  stopt 
their  ears,  and  hardened  their  hearts,  so  that  I  cannot  con- 
vert them,  nor  heal  them." 

We  lock  ourselves,  by  our  own  prejudices,  into  a  cham- 
ber of  the  soul  so  dark  that  the  light  of  truth  cannot  enter 
it.  Sometimes  men  refuse  to  be  divinely  influenced,  be- 
cause they  have  made  up  their  minds  that  all  such  influ- 
ence is  absurd  and  impossible.  Light  has  come  into  the 
world,  and  they  choose  darkness  rather  than  light  —  not 
always  because  their  deeds  are  evil,  but  sometimes  from 
the  mere  wilfulness  of  a  system  to  which  they  have  become 
slaves. 

Let  us,dear  friends,  be  children  of  the  light  and  of  the  day. 
Let  us  be  willing  to  be  led  by  the  spirit  of  God,  and  to  be- 
come sons  of  God.  Let  us  not  harden  ourselves  against 
the  voice  within,  whether  it  comes  to  give  us  better  insight 
into  truth,  or  to  show  us  how  acceptably  to  work ;  whether 
it  open  our  eyes  to  see,  our  ears  to  hear,  our  hands  to  act, 
our  lips  to  speak,  or  our  hearts  to  love. 


XV. 

TRANSITION  PERIODS. 
"  When  people  are  neither  one  thing  nor  the  other." 

MY  subject  to-day  is  Transition  Periods.  And  I  will 
first  read  the  little  parable  of  Jesus  about  the  chil- 
dren in  the  market-place,  which  we  have  given  to  us  in 
Matthew  xi.  and  Luke  vii.  In  the  latter  place  it  stands 
thus : 

"  Whereunto,  then,  shall  I  liken  the  children  of  this  gen- 
eration? and  to  what  are  they  like?  They  are  like  unto 
children  sitting  in  the  market-place,  and  calling  one  to 
another,  and  saying:  We  have  piped  unto  you,  and  ye 
have  not  danced ;  we  have  mourned  unto  you,  and  you 
have  not  wept.  For  John  the  Baptist  came  neither  eating 
bread,  nor  drinking  wine  ;  and  ye  say,  He  hatha  devil.  The 
Son  of  Man  is  come  eating  and  drinking ;  and  ye  say  : 
Behold,  a  gluttonous  man  and  a  wine  bibber,  a  friend  of 
publicans  and  sinners.  But  wisdom  is  justified  of  all  her 
children." 

This  little  picture  of  children's  plays,  which  Jesus  gives 
us,  is  an  illustration  of  the  illogical  objections  made 
against  the  truth,  and  shows  us  many  things. 

It  shows  us  how  uniform  are  the  tendencies  of  human 

nature  in  all  ages  and  times.     Jesus,  passing  through  the 

market  of   Nazareth,  or  Cana,  saw  the  children  playing 

their  games,  just  as  children  play  them  now.     The  little 

O52) 


TRANSITION    PERIODS.  1 53 

Syrian  boys  and  girls  belonging  to  the  great  Semitic  race, 
living  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  amid  Asiatic  customs 
and  scenery,  were  just  such  little  children  as  you  and  I  saw 
playing  on  the  Common  yesterday.  They  played  games, 
imitating  the  customs  of  grown  people  ;  just  as  little  chil- 
dren now  play  soldier,  play  horse  and  driver,  so  they  then 
played  weddings,  and  funerals.  Jewish  weddings  and  fu- 
nerals were  conducted  with  much  ceremony,  with  proces- 
sions and  pomp,  and  so  caught  the  eyes  of  the  children 
who  stood  watching  the  nuptial  cortege,  or  solemn  burial 
march.  As  soon  as  it  went  by,  they  began  to  say  to  each 
other,  "Come,  let  us  play  wedding,"  and  then  they  pretend- 
ed to  make  the  music  to  which  the  others  were  to  dance ; 
or,  "  Let  us  play  funeral,"  and  then  they  went  gravely 
through  all  the  customs  of  mourning.  But  little  children 
were  sometimes  cross  in  those  days,  as  they  are  now,  and 
so  refused  to  play  either  one  or  the  other,  and  their  com- 
panions could  not  please  them,  do  what  they  would.  This 
little  trait  of  childlike  nature,  breaking  out  of  the  solemn 
distant  past,  out  of  another  civilization,  race,  continent,  age, 
affects  us  like  a  song  heard  in  youth,  like  the  fragrance  of 
a  flower  that  grew  in  the  garden  where  we  roamed  in  infancy. 
Once  I  was  walking  along  the  ruined  passage  of  an  old 
Norman  castle,,  and  while  thinking  of  the  fierce  race  that 
manned  those  walls  six  hundred  years  before,  I  came  sud- 
denly upon  a  child's  plaything,  lying  on  the  gray  stone. 
Goethe  has  a  lovely  poem,  in  which  he  represents  a  traveller 
who  visits  the  ruins  of  a  Greek  temple,  and  finds  a  moth- 
er and  infant  sitting  thereon.  Her  hut  was  made  of  the 
carved  fragments  of  the  architrave  or  frieze,  and  while  the 
stranger  was  admiring  the  elaborate  stones,  broken  col 
umns,  and  fragments  of  art,  the  mother  was  talking  a  moth- 
er's foolish,  loving  talk  to  her  sleeping  boy.  So  this  little 
allusion  to  the  children  of  the  day  of  Jesus,  and  their  plays 


154  TRANSITION    PERIODS. 

and  quarrels  (coming  in  the  midst  of  that  greatest  event  of 
time),  shows  us  how  the  life  of  nature  renews  itself  ever- 
more amid  all  the  changes  of  human  history. 

Again.  How  this  incident  shows  the  habit  of  Christ  of 
taking  illustrations  from  common  things  —  from  every-day 
life  !  If  a  minister,  to-day,  should  illustrate  a  religious 
truth  by  a  boy's  game  at  foot-ball,  it  would  be  thought  sin- 
gular, if  not  undignified.  But  Christ  saw  nothing  undig- 
nified in  human  nature,  or  human  life.  In  his  teachings 
there  is  nothing  conventional,  nothing  formal.  .  No  fact  in 
God's  world  is  to  him  common  or  unclean. 

This  whole  incident  also  shows  how  much  easier  it  is  for 
good  men,  though  differing  in  ideas,  tastes  and  methods,  to 
agree  in  a  mutual  respect  and  sympathy,  than  for  self- 
willed  men  to  form  any  permanent  union.  No  two  were 
more  unlike  tnan  Jesus  and  John  ;  but  they  had  a  common 
aim.  It  was  to  do  God's  will  j  to  make  the  world  better. 
So  they  had  a  mutual  respect  for  each  other.  John  was  an 
ascetic ;  he  neither  ate  nor  drank,  like  other  men;  he  prac- 
tised total  abstinence  j  he  lived  in  the  wilderness  an  austere 
prophet,  denouncing  war  against  tyrants  and  all  evil  doers. 
Jesus  came  eating  and  drinking  like  other  men  ;  not  going 
into  a  desert,  but  going  to  weddings,  to  the  suppers  of  rich 
men  or  poor,  to  the  houses  of  his  friends  or  those  of  stran 
gers.  He  preached  the  gospel,  not  the  law  ;  he  preached 
faith,  hope,  love,  courage.  He  set  forth  God  as  a  Father, 
not  as  a  judge.  So  he  seemed  to  be  very  different  from 
John.  If  he  increased,  John  must  decrease.  Their  work 
was  not  alike  ;  their  spirit  was  very  different ;  their  mis- 
sions did  not  harmonize.  But  yet,  because  their  deepest 
aim  was  the  same,  John  honored  Jesus,  and  Jesus  honored 
John.  John  had  the  nobleness  to  recognize  a  superior 
greatness  in  Jesus,  though  he  did  not  understand  it.  There 
was  a  real  union  between  them.    John  said  of  Jesus,  "  Be- 


TRANSITION    PERIODS.  155 

hold  the  Lamb  of  God  !  I  am  not  worthy  to  untie  his  shoe- 
strings. He  must  increase,  I  must  decrease."  Jesus  said 
of  John,  "  Of  all  men  born  of  women  " —  that  is,  prophets 
by  nature,  in  the  order  of  natural  genius  and  endowment — 
"  there  is  none  greater  than  John." 

John  was  the  last  of  the  prophets  of  that  great  race  who 
kept  alive  the  spirit  and  power  of  Judaism  amid  the  for- 
malism of  the  Ritualists  and  Dogmatists.  He. was  the  trans- 
ition from  the  law  to  the  gospel,  the  culminating  point  and 
also  the  vanishing  point  of  the  Old  Covenant.  An  obscure 
text  makes  Jesus  say  that,  "  from  the  days  of  John  the 
baptist,  until  now,  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  suffereth  vio- 
lence, and  the  violent  take  it  by  force.  For  all  the  prophets 
and  the  law  prophesied  until  John." 

This  passage  probably  means  that  John  made  the  turn- 
ing-point from  the  law  to  the  gospel.  For  law  works  by 
force  j  the  gospel  by  love.  The  law  drives  ;  the  gospel  at- 
tracts. The  principle  of  the  Old  Testament  was  command; 
authority  resting  on  the  sanctions  of  reward  and  punish- 
ment. The  motive  of  the  gospel  is  the  love  of  God  taking 
the  initiative  —  blessing  us,  that  we,  in  return,  may  bless 
one  another. 

Now  there  are  three  great  periods  in  religion  : 

i.  The  period  of  law ;  in  which  the  motive  is  hope  and 
fear  —  hope  of  reward  and  fear  of  punishment. 

2.  The  period  of  the  gospel ;  in  which  the  motive  is 
simply  the  love  of  what  is  good  without  regard  to  personal 
results. 

3.  The  transition  period,  which  is  that  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist ;  when  there  is  the  sight  of  the  gospel,  and  yet  the  ter- 
ror of  the  law  behind  it ;  in  which  men,  though  they  love 
God  a  little,  are  still  afraid  of  him. 

This  transition  period  is  indicated  by  Jesus  in  that  phrase 
which  was  probably  not  understood  by  the  disciples,  and 


I56  TRANSITION    PERIODS. 

therefore  imperfectly  reported  :  "  The  kingdom  of  Heaven 
suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  force." 

Such  a  transition  period  has  continued  in  the  Church 
down  to  our  time.  Perhaps  the  majority  of  Christians  are 
now  living,  not  under  the  dominion  of  law,  nor  yet  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  but  in  the  dispensation  of  John  the 
Baptist.  Both  orthodox  Christians  and  liberal  Christians 
find  it  hard  to  escape  wholly  from  law.  They  believe  in 
the  Heavenly  Father  ;  yes,  certainly  they  do !  They  be- 
lieve in  his  mercy,  in  his  forgiving  love.  But  still  they  think 
that  they  are  not  good  enough  to  come  to  God  with  perfect 
freedom  and  entire  trust.  They  think  they  must  somehow 
fit  themselves  to  be  Christians.  They  are  a  little  doubtful 
whether  they  are  good  enough  to  go  to  heaven,  or  good 
enough  to  meet  their  friends  in  heaven. 

The  orthodox  show  their  allegiance  to  John  the  baptist 
by  their  doctrines  of  the  wrath  of  God,  of  eternal  damna- 
tion, of  a  judgment  which  is  to  separate  all  men  into  two 
classes,  of  saints  and  sinners.  This  makes  death  to  them 
an  awful  thing,  and  adds  a  gloom  to  life,  and  an  uncer- 
tainty in  regard  to  their  own  fate  and  that  of  those  dear  to 
them. 

The  Unitarians  have  none  of  these  fears,  but  they  have 
those  of  another  kind.  They  think  they  have  to  earn  their 
salvation  by  good  works,  and  as  our  best  goodness  never 
amounts  to  much,  they  have  no  great  confidence  that  they 
shall  ever  deserve  it  by  any  merit  of  theirs.  They  believe 
firmly  in  a  law  of  moral  retribution,  applying  to  this  life  as 
to  every  other.  They  believe  In  being  saved  by  doing  their 
duty,  and  as  their  consciences  are  somewhat  sensitive,  they 
are  by  no  means  sure  of  their  salvation.  Thus,  neither 
Orthodox  nor  Unitarians  are  living  wholly  either  under  the 
gospel  or  under  the  law,  but  under  a  dispensation  half  way 
between  the  two. 


TRANSITION    PERIODS.  157 

But  half-way  convictions  are  not  very  satisfactory,  and 
the  remedy  for  this  evil  is  to  put  both  the  law  and  the. gos- 
pel in  their  right  place.  We  cannot  dispense  with  either, 
but  we  wish  to  distinguish  between  their  sphere  and  their 
work. 

Jesus  did  not  come  to  destroy  the  law,  but  to  fulfil  it  in 
love.  No  doubt  as  a  man  sows  so  shall  he  reap.  There 
is  a  strict  and  infallible  retribution  here  and  hereafter  for 
all  our  conduct.  As  we  do  right  we  go  up  ;  as  we  do  wrong 
we  go  down.     This  is  true  in  this  world  and  in  all  worlds. 

Therefore,  as  regards  our  outward  position,  our  outward 
privileges,  our  outward  situation  in  the  universe,  we  shall 
have  what  we  have  earned  and  have  fitted  ourselves  for, 
and  we  are  saved  by  works.  We  go  up  or  go  down  accord- 
ing to  moral  laws  as  certain  as  the  law  of  gravity  in  their 
operation. 

But  as  regards  our  inward  state,  our  inward  relation  to 
God  and  to  man,  we  are  saved  by  the  gospel  and  by  faith 
in  the  gospel. 

Those  who  live  under  the  gospel  and  believe  in  Christ, 
cease  to  be  at  all  anxious  about  their  position  in  the  uni- 
verse. Wherever  they  shall  be  it  is  all  right  and  good. 
They  will  be  inwardly  happy  anywhere,  for  they  will  be  al- 
ways in  communion  with  God.  They  will  have  their  heav- 
enly Father  and  his  love  in  all  worlds.  So  they  can  say, 
with  David,  "  If  I  ascend  into  heaven,  thou  art  there  ;  if  I 
make  my  bed  in  hell,  thou  art  there,  also."  If  they  are  to 
have  nothing  outwardly,  they  shall  possess  all  things  in- 
wardly. If  they  have  to  suffer  hereafter,  they  know  that  it 
will  not  be  from  the  anger  of  God,  but  from  his  love  ;  be- 
cause they  need  to  suffer,  and  because  suffering  is  the  best 
thing  for  them.  But  of  one  thing  they  are  sure,  that  noth- 
ing shall  separate  them  from  the  love  of  God — neither  af- 
fliction, nor  distress,  nor  angels,  nor  devils,  nor  heaven,  nor 
hell,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come. 


I58  TRANSITION   PERIODS. 

This  puts  an  end  to  the  time  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  to 
the  Transition  Period.  It  puts  the  law  in  its  right  place 
and  the  gospel  in  its  right  place.  The  law  applies  to  ex- 
ternal conditions  of  outward  attainment,  position,  character 
•and  desert.  The  gospel  applies  to  the  inward  life  of  the 
heart  and  soul,  to  its  deepest  convictions,  trusts  and  joys. 
Our  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  and  so  all  is  well  with 
us  while  we  trust  in  him.  Our  outward  destiny  depends  on 
ourselves,  and  that  results  from  our  own  fidelity  to  duty,  to 
truth  and  to  law. 

The  gospel  gives  us  inward  unity  of  faith  and  purpose. 
It  gives  us  unity  with  ourselves,  and  till  we  have  that  unity 
we  can  be  satisfied  neither  with  ourselves  nor  with  others. 
How  difficult  to  please  those  who  are  not  at  one  with  them- 
selves ! 

If  a  man  is  not  at  unity  with  himself  by  being  at  one  with 
God,  nothing  suits  him.  He  is  like  the  children  in  the 
parable.  Their  companions  said  to  them,  "  Come,  let  us 
play  a  wedding !  "  No,  they  did  not  wish  to  play  that. 
"  Then  let  us  play  a  funeral !  "  No,  they  did  not  wish  to 
play  that,  either.  For,  until  we  have  some  inward  union, 
there  can  be  no  real  union  with  others. 

So,  when  John  came,  an  austere,  stern  man,  teaching  ret- 
ribution, rousing  the  whole  moral  nature,  stirring  the  con- 
science to  its  depths,  people  said  :  "  He  is  a  fanatic  !  He 
is  mad  !  He  is  crazy  f  He  has  a  devil  !  How  singular  to 
live  in  a  desert !  How  improper,  to  preach  out  of  doors  1 
It  is  bad  for  the  health  to  sleep  on  the  ground.  He  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  lives  of  the  people  whom  he  has  carried 
out  there.  Religion  is  a  rational  thing.  I  don't  believe 
in  such  enthusiasm.  We  ought  to  be  moderate  in  all  things. 
Religion  is  not  sent  in  order  to  frighten  people,  it  is  to  make 
them  happy.  I  believe  that  religion  was  never  designed 
to  make  our  pleasure  less.  This  John  the  Baptist  is  a  mere 
demagogue." 


TRANSITION    PERIODS.  1 59 

Then  Jesus  comes.  He  is  not  a  fanatic.  He  allows  his 
disciples  to  walk  on  the  Sabbath,  and  to  pluck  corn  when 
they  are  hungry.  He  heals  a  sick  man  on  the  Sabbath 
day.  He  enjoins  no  strict  ceremonies,  no  hours  of  prayer, 
no  fasts,  no  washings.  He  goes  to  a  wedding,  and  makes*- 
wine  j  he  visits  rich  and  poor ;  he  lays  all  stress  on  the 
spirit,  the  motive,  and  very  little  stress  on  forms  of  any 
kind.  He  will  certainly  please  those  who  objected  to  John, 
you  think.  Not  at  all.  They  say  of  him  •  "  He  is  self-in- 
dulgent, a  wine-bibber,  not  dignified  enough  ;  he  is  too  lax 
altogether.  What!  Did  you  hear  of  his  telling  them  to 
forgive  a  woman  caught  in  an  act  of  sin  ?  Why,  he  talks 
with  improper  people  1  What  is  the  world  coming  to,  I  ask  ? 
All  the  landmarks  are  breaking  down  between  the  respect- 
able classes  and  the  lower  classes.  Do  you  call  such  a  man 
as  that  a  religious  teacher?  I  call  him  a  mere  man  of  the 
world.  He  preached  a  political  speech,  the  other  day, 
against  the  Pharisees,  who  are  the  most  respectable  people 
we  have  among  us.  He  must  be  a  bad  man,  and  he  ought 
to  be  punished  severely." 

The  difficulty  was  this  :  they  did  not  like  the  austerity 
of  John,  because  they  were  not  ready  to  repent  of  their 
sins  and  begin  a  life  of  holiness.  They  did  not  like  the 
gospel  gentleness  of  Jesus,  because  they  feared  that  if  the 
terrors  of  the  law  were  taken  away,  there  would  be  nothing 
left.  They  believed  in  the  law,  but  did  not  like  it.  They 
liked  the  gospel,  but  did  not  believe  in  it. 

There  are  just  such  people  nowadays.  They  do  not 
like  Orthodoxy  because  it  is  too  severe  in  its  demands ; 
but  still  they  believe  in  it.  They  like  liberal  Christianity, 
but  they  do  not  believe  in  it.  They  believe  in  terror  and 
punishment  as  the  only  motives  which  can  influence  men ; 
but  they  do  not  like  them.  They  like  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  and  the  Good  Samaritan,  and  the  Prodigal  Son, 


l6o  TRANSITION   PERIODS. 

but  do  not  believe  in  them.  They  think  something  stronger 
necessary. 

The  difficulty,  you  see,  is  in  themselves.  There  is  no 
unity  within,  so  nothing  suits  them.  If  they  would  earn- 
estly follow  what  they  believe,  obey  the  law,  be  good  Ortho- 
dox men ;  by  that  path  they  would  reach  the  full  light  of 
the  gospel,  and  be  something  better  by  and  by. 

When  a  man's  conscience  is  pulling  one  way,  and  his 
heart  is  pulling  him  another  way,  nothing  pleases  him.  If 
you  ask  him  to  do  his  duty,  and  tell  him  what  he  ought  to 
be,  his  conscience  assents,  but  he  does  not  like  it.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  you  make  excuses  for  him,  and  tell  him  he 
is  all  right,  then  his  feelings  are  soothed,  but  his  con- 
science remonstrates,  because  he  knows  you  are  wrong  in 
saying  so. 

Selfishness  is  thus  always  ill  at  ease,  and  has  no  inward 
unity  so  long  as  there  is  any  conscience  left. 

Men  at  discord  in  themselves  can  have  no  lasting  unity 
with  each  other.  They  may  be  united  for  a  time  by  com- 
mon interests,  but  there  is  always  danger  of  a  rupture. 

The  union  of  good  men  is  internal,  though  there  may  be 
outward  differences.  The  union  of  selfish  men  may  be 
external,  but  there  are  always  inward  differences.  The 
children  of  folly  may  unite  for  a  common  purpose,  may  be 
allied  together  as  Herod  and  Pilate  were  allied  against 
Christ.  Pirates  may  join  for  plunder  ;  the  children  of  this 
world,  for  power,  pleasure  and  earthly  gain.  But  there  is 
no  inward  union,  and  as  soon  as  the  outward  advantage  of 
the  alliance  ceases,  the  partnership  is  dissolved.  But  good 
men,  though  separated  outwardly,  are  inwardly  at  one. 
They  belong  to  one  invisible  and  indivisible  church.  By 
and  by  they  shall  come  together  outwardly,  and  see  eye  to 
eye.  The  inevitable  logic  of  faith  and  reason  shall  at  last 
unite  them,  and  then  wisdom  shall  be  justified  of  all  her 


TRANSITION   PERIODS.^  l6l 

children.  John  the  Baptist  will  understand  Christ;  Bar- 
nabas will  comprehend  Paul ;  Fenelon  and  Martin  Luther, 
Athanasius  and  Arius,  Dr.  Channing  and  Dr.  Beecher,  will 
recognize  each  other's  worth,  and  bless  God  together  for 
what  each  has  accomplished  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

So  shall  wisdom  be  at  last  justified  of  all  her  children. 
So  shall  all  good  men,  sincerely  desiring  to  do  right,  be 
found  at  last  to  be  walking  together  on  the  same  road 
towards  the  best  things.  He  who  is  faithful  in  the  least 
will  find  himself  belonging  to  that  family  of  which  Christ 
is  the  head,  and  will  have  for  his  brothers  and  sisters  all 
the  great  and  the  good  of  all  climes  and  of  every  age.  1  le 
will  find  himself  in  the  society  of  the  great  intellects,  the 
cherubim  with  many  eyes,  and  of  the  great  lovers,  the 
seraphim  hiding  themselves  behind  their  wings  from  the 
intense  glory  of  God's  throne.  Wisdom  is  not  sectarian 
nor  bigoted ;  she  has  a  large  church,  and  many  children, 
and  is  iustified  of  them  all. 

II 


XVI. 

THE  WORD  OF  GOD  NOT  BOUND. 
"The  word  of  God  is  not  bound." 

LIBERAL  Christianity  may  be  denned,  not  as  any  be- 
lief, nor  as  any  system  of  opinions,  but  as  something 
going  deeper.  It  is  a  habit  of  mind  ;  a  way  of  considering 
all  opinions  as  of  secondary  importance  ;  all  outward  state- 
ments, methods,  operations,  administrations,  as  not  belong- 
ing to  the  essence  of  religion.  Liberal  Christianity  comes 
from  that  spiritual  insight  which  penetrates  the  shell  and 
finds  the  kernel ;  sees  what  is  the  one  thing  needful,  and 
discovers  it  to  be  not  the  form,  but  the  substance ;  not  the 
letter,  but  the  spirit ;  not  the  body,  but  the  soul ;  not  the 
outward  action,  but  the  inward  motive ;  not  the  profession, 
but  the  life. 

In  this  sense,  the  Apostle  Paul  was  the  first  Liberal 
Christian,  and  the  founder  of  that  Liberal  Christianity 
which  is  not  confined  to  any  sect  or  party,  any  denomina- 
tion or  church ;  but  which  inspires  and  animates  to-day  the 
best  men  in  all  denominations,  from  the  Roman  Catholics  on 
the  one  side  to  the  most  radical  come-outers  on  the  other 
side.  And  the  motto  and  maxim  of  Liberal  Christianity, 
everywhere,  is  given  in  our  text,  that  "  The  word  of  God  is 
not  bound."  The  most  zealous  Roman  Catholic  is  a  Lib- 
eral Christian  when,  however  strongly  he  believes  in  the 
superior  value  of  his  own  church,  he  yet  does  not  believe 

(16a) 


THE   WORD    OF    GOD    NOT   BOUND.  1 63 

that  the  word  of  God  is  bound  to  it,  but  cheerfully  admits 
that  there  may  be  good  Christians  outside  of  it.  A  Trini- 
tarian is  a  Liberal  Christian  who,  holding  the  dogma  of  the 
Trinity  himself,  does  not  think  it  the  only  essential  form  of 
words  according  to  which  God  may  be  seen  and  worshipped. 
A  Unitarian  is  a  Liberal  Christian  only  when  he  believes 
that  a  sincere  believer  in  the  Trinity  can  be  as  much  of  a 
liberal  and  rational  Christian  as  himself.  Liberal  Chris- 
tianity does  not  exclude  zeal  for  one's  own  church,  or  one's 
own  belief ;  but  it  fully  recognizes  that  these  belong  not  to 
the  vital  and  eternal  part  of  religion,  but  to  the  temporal 
and  fugitive  part. 

If  this  be  so,  why,  you  may  ask,  do  I  not  call  Jesus  him- 
self the  founder  of  Liberal  Christianity  ?  Because,  as  long 
as  he  taught,  all  Christianity  was  liberal,  and  could  not  be 
otherwise.  The  body  had  not  come,  the  forms  had  not  ar- 
rived ;  as  yet  dogma  did  not  exist.  Christianity  was  then 
all  life,  essence,  spirit.  It  had  not  begun  to  run  into  any 
ruts  of  routine.  There  were  no  liturgies,  no  hours  of  pray- 
er, no  forms  of  worship,  no  church  meetings.  All  was  spirit 
and  all  was  life. 

But  Liberal  Christianity  began  when  the  first  struggle 
began  between  the  spirit  and  the  letter,  and  that  was  the 
great  battle  which  emancipated  Christianity  from  Judaism. 

The  first  great  question  which  came  up  to  be  debated 
was  this :  "  Ought  the  word  of  God  to  be  bound  to  Juda- 
ism ?  Can  any  one  be  a  Christian  without  being  also  a 
Jew  ?  "  So  long  as  all  Christians  were  Jews,  this  question 
did  not  arise ;  but  the  moment  the  Gentiles  began  to  be 
converted  to  Christianity,  it  was  necessary  to  consider  and 
decide  that  point.  The  Council  at  Jerusalem  (Acts  xv.) 
decided  it  so  far  as  this,  that  Gentiles  could  become  Chris- 
tians, and  be  in  full  communion  with  other  Christians, 
only  adopting  those  few  Jewish  rules  which  were  laid  on 


164  THE    WORD    OF    GOD    NOT   BOUND. 

the  "  Proselytes  of  the  Gate."  In  other  words,  they  could 
become  Christians  by  being  about  half  Jews.  It  was,  in 
short,  a  compromise,  and,  like  most  compromises,  left  the 
main  question  unsettled,  and  to  be  fought  over  again. 

Paul  took  higher  ground.  He  went  back  to  first  prin- 
ciple's. He  maintained  that  the  only  essential  fact  of 
Christianity  was  faith  in  Christ  and  love  growing  out  of  it ; 
and  so  he  argued  that  the  word  of  God  was  not  bound  to 
Judaism. 

The  arguments  on  the  other  side  were,  however^  very 
strong.  "  Of  course,"  Paul's  opponents  probably  said,  "  of 
course  Christianity  is  bound  to  Judaism.  It  is  a  part  of 
Judaism.  Jesus  was  a  Jew.  All  his  apostles  —  Paul  in- 
cluded—  are  Jews.  The  very  word  "  Christ"  means  the 
Jewish  Messiah.  How  can  one  believe  in  the  Jewish  Mes- 
siah without  being  a  Jew  ?  Jesus  himself  never  broke  with 
Judaism.  He  attended  all  the  feasts,  he  paid  the  tax  to 
the  Temple;  he  said,  expressly,  "I  am  not  come  to  de- 
stroy the  Law  and  the  Prophets."  He  said,  "  The  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat ;  all,  therefore,  whatsoever 
they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do."  He  therefore 
commands  his  followers  to  become  Jews.  And  who  is  Paul, 
who  forbids  it  ?  He  is  not  one  of  the  twelve.  He  is  not  a 
real  apostle,  then,  for  there  were  only  twelve  apostles,  and 
they  were  chosen  as  witnesses  of  the  resurrection,  which 
Paul  was  not.  Besides,  was  not  the  Jewish  religion  estab- 
lished by  God  himself  —  ritual,  sacrifices,  and  all  ?  What 
right  have  you  to  do  away  with  any  part  of  it,  then  ?  Juda- 
ism is  the  body  of  which  Christianity  is  the  soul,  and  every 
soul  needs  a  body.  Paul  says,  "We  are  saved  by  faith, 
without  the  works  of  the  law."  That  is  just  like  saying, 
"Our  thirst  is  satisfied  by  water,  without  any  cup  or  vessel 
to  hold  it."  The  cup  does  not  quench  our  thirst,  but  it  is 
essential  and  necessary  to  hold  the  water,  else  we  could 


the  Word  of  god  not  bound.  165 

not  drink.  We  need  a  church,  then,  sacrifices,  priests, 
ceremonies  ;  this  is  the  cup  which  holds  the  water  of  life. 
The  Jewish  Church,  with  all  its  ritual  and  ceremonies,  was 
founded  by  God  —  as  Paul  himself  admits.  Why,  then, 
reject  it  ?  If  Jesus  had  founded  another,  that  might  be  a 
reason  for  relinquishing  Judaism  ;  but  he  did  not.  Some 
outward  forms  are  necessary.  Jesus  did  not  give  us  any. 
God  himself  gave  the  Jewish  forms.  Ought  you  not,  then, 
to  accept  these  as  the  body  in  which  your  new  life  may  be 
able  to  act  and  move  and  grow  ? 

'•'  Besides,"  they  may  have  added,  appealing  to  expe- 
diency, "  is  it  not  safer  to  do  too  much  than  too  little  ? 
It  can  do  no  harm  to  adopt  the  Jewish  customs,  and  may 
do  good.  Paul  does  not  say  that  Jewish  Christians  cannot 
be  saved  ;  but  we  say  none  others  can  be  saved.  There- 
fore, if  you  go  with  him  you  are  in  danger,  in  our  opinion  ; 
if  you  go  with  us,  you  are  safe,  according  to  both  opinions. 
Therefore  prudence  requires  you  to  go  with  us." 

I  have  given  this  argument,  as  being  probably  that  of 
those  who  declared  the  word  of  God  to  be  bound  to  Ju- 
daism. I  have  given  it,  because  it  is  stronger  than  any 
ever  since  used  to  prove  it  to  be  bound  to  anything  else. 
If  the  word  of  God  can  be  shown  not  to  be  bound  to 
Judaism,  to  Jewish  ceremonies,  the  Jewish  church,  the  Jew- 
ish creed,  it  certainly  cannot  be  bound  to  any  other  church 
or  creed.  If  Paul  had  an  argument  by  which  he  could 
emancipate  Christianity  from  the  Jewish  letter,  the  same 
argument  must  hold  good  against  any  other  sort  of  literal- 
ism. 

The  powerful  weapon  which  Paul  wielded  on  this  great 
occasion  was  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.  "  We 
are  forgiven  our  sins,"  says  he,  "  not  because  of  anything 
we  can  do,  but  by  believing  what  Jesus  Christ  teaches  us 
of  God's  love,  and  trusting  in  that,  and  only  in  that.     As 


1 66  THE    WORD   OF    GOD    NOT   BOUND. 

long  as  you  trust  in  God's  love  you  are  safe  ;  as  soon  as 
you  begin  to  trust  in  anything  else  you  are  in  danger.  It 
is  as  dangerous  to  believe  too  much  as  too  little.  The 
only  safety  consists  in  believing  the  exact  truth.  The 
Jewish  law  was  for  the  childhood  of  the  race  ;  not  its  man- 
hood. All  the  law  is  now  fulfilled,  and  fulfilled  in  one 
word,  '  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.'  To  go 
back  to  the  '  beggarly  elements  '  of  ritual,  when  we  ought 
to  go  forward  to  faith,  hope  and  love,  is  a  sin.  It  is  as 
though  a  learned  scholar  should  go  back  to  the  study  of  his 
alphabet.  In  Christ  Jesus,  neither  Judaism  availeth  any- 
thing, or  non-Judaism,  but  faith  which  worketh  by  love." 

In  another  place  Paul  shows  the  largeness  of  his  mind, 
by  comparing  the  church  of  Christ  to  the  human  body, 
where  a  variety  of  organs  co-operate  in  a  common  life. 
So,  he  argues,  there  should  be  variety  in  the  church.  Let 
the  Jewish  Christians  remain  Jews,  and  be  Christians  too. 
Let  the  Gentile  Christians  remain  Gentiles,  but  be  Chris- 
tians too.  Let  every  race  keep  its  own  characteristics,  and 
no  one  pattern  of  Christianity  attempt  to  absorb  the  rest. 
Let  them  all  be  united  inwardly  by  a  common  life.  So  the 
human  eye  which  sees,  and  the  ear  which  hears,  and  the 
hand  which  handles,  are  united  inwardly  by  the  common 
life  of  the  body,  but  are  divided  and  separated  outwardly 
by  their  different  functions.  "  If  the  whole  body  were  an 
eye,  where  were  the  hearing  ?  If  the  whole  body  were  an 
ear,  where  were  the  smelling  ?  But  now  there  are  many 
members  but  one  body." 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  word  of  God  is  not  bound  to 
any  particular  church,  or  ritual,  or  sacraments,  or  ceremo- 
nies. It  was  thought,  at  first,  that  it  was  bound  to  Judaism 
and  that  no  man  could  be  a  Christian  unless  he  were  also  a 
Jew.  Paul  rooted  that  weed  out  of  Christianity,  and  won 
for  the  whole  Ethnic  world  —  Greeks,  Romans,  Egyptians, 


THE   WORD    OF    GOD    NOT   BOUND.  1 67 

Persians,  Hindoos,  Germans — the  right  of  becoming 
Christians  at  once,  just  as  they  were,  without  first  having 
to  become  Jews. 

But  intolerance  is  the  natural  growth  of  strong  soils. 
Out  in  the  West,  when  the  primeval  forest  is  felled,  there 
comes  up  in  regular  order,  a  whole  succession  of  weeds, 
which  are  killed  out,  one  after  another,  by  culture.  So  it 
has  been  in  the  progress  of  Christian  civilization.  This 
progress  has  killed  off,  one  after  another,  a  similar  series 
of  weeds  which  came  up  in  the  Christian  church.  The 
Jewish  intolerance  was  the  first  weed.  Paul  weeded  the 
church  of  that  so  thoroughly  that  it  never  came  up  again. 
The  next  weed  was  the  Church  intolerance,  which  said, 
"  No  man  can  be  a  Christian  who  is  not  a  member  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  partakes  of  its  sacra- 
ments, and  submits  to  its  authority."  Martin  Luther 
weeded  Christianity  of  this  form  of  intolerance,  and  made 
it  possible  for  man  to  be  a  Christian  without  being  a  Roman 
Catholic.  But  not  being  as  liberal  a  Christian  as  Paul, 
he  left  another  weed  growing  in  its  place — the  weed  of 
Dogmatic  intolerance.  The  dogmatists  said,  "  The  word 
of  God  is  not  bound  to  the  Roman  Catholic  church  ;  but 
it  is  bound  to  certain  essential  doctrines  —  the  Trinity, 
Total  Depravity,  the  Atonement,  Everlasting  Punishment." 
This  weed  has  also  been  nearly  eradicated  in  our  time.  It 
is  hard,  to-day,  to  find  a  man  who  will  tell  you  that  you 
will  be  lost  because  you  do  not  believe  the  Trinity. 

The  principle  of  Liberal  Christianity  has  pervaded  ajl 
denominations.  It  has  taken  the  shells  and  husks  and 
outward  coverings  from  the  word  of  God,  and  these  are 
now  seen  to  be  like  those  envelopes  which  God  puts 
around  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  until  they  are  ripe,  but  which 
then  are  taken  off,  and  thrown  away. 

Nothing  abides,  nothing  is  permanent  in  Christianity.. 


1 68       THE  WORD  OF  GOD  NOT  BOUND. 

says  Paul,  but  faith,  hope,  and  love.  No  man  was  more 
profoundly  convinced  than  Paul,  of  the  importance  of  his 
own  belief,  but  he  did  not  think  that  even  his  own  belief 
was  to  last  forever.  Paul  said  of  his  system  of  theology, 
"  I  know  in  part,  and  I  prophesy  (or  teach)  in  part ;  but 
when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  then  that  which  is  part 
shall  be  done  away."  But  though  Paul  thought  that  his 
creed  was  to  be  transient,  there  are  those  who  believe  that 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  or  the  Westminster  Assembly's 
Catechism,  are  to  last  forever,  and  cannot  bear  to  hear  of 
their  being  altered.  Paul  said  that  he  saw  darkly  as  in  a 
mirror,  that  is,  only  relatively ;  but  they  think  they  see  the 
absolute  truth  face  to  face. 

The  word  of  God  is  not  bound  to  any  church  or  to  any 
creed  ;  it  goes  outside  of  all  churches  and  all  creeds. 
It  does  not  run  on  any  railroad  track  of  our  making,  but  is 
like  the  wind,  which  blows  where  it  will,  circling  the  round 
world  evermore.  The  same  cool  breeze  which  fans  the 
hot  cheeks  of  the  laborers  on  the  plains  of  Hindostan, 
sweeps  on  across  the  Indian  ocean,  gathering  moisture  as 
it  goes,  and  pours  it  down  in  rain  on  the  parched  regions 
of  Central  Africa.  So  God  sends  his  prophets  and  teach- 
ers of  truth  to  every  race,  to  help  them  according  to  their 
separate  needs";  sends  some  knowledge  of  himself,  some 
intuitions  of  duty,  some  hopes  of  immortality,  to  all  the 
children  of  men. 

The  word  of  God  is  not  bound  to  the  Bible.  The  Bible 
which  we  call  the  Word  of  God,  is  certainly  one  word  of 
God.  But  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  Bible,  not  its  letter,  which 
makes  of  it  a  holy  book.  It  is  holy,  and  it  makes  men 
holy,  because  it  is  written  by  men  whose  souls  were  all 
alive  with  convictions  of  right,  of  trust  in  Providence,  of 
belief  in  the  triumphant  victory  of  truth  and  goodness. 
This    is  why  we  value  it  —  not  because  of  its  geology, 


THE  WORD  OF  GOD  NOT  BOUND.       1 69 

which  may  be  erroneous,  nor  its  history,  which  doubtless 
may  contain  mistakes.  It  is  not  the  prophecies  of  the 
Bible  which  are  essential  —  "  for  whether  there  be  proph- 
ecies they  shall  fail."  It  is  not  its  verbal  inspiration 
which  gives  to  it  its  supreme  importance  —  "  for  whether 
there  be  tongues,  they  shall  cease."  Nor  is  its  vitality  even 
in  the  doctrinal  truth  it  teaches — "for  whether  there  be 
knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away."  But  it  is  the  faith,  the 
hope,  the  love  which  are  in  the  Bible  which  will  abide,  and 
will  cause  the  Bible  to  remain  always  a  permanent  bless- 
ing  to  mankind.  "For  now  abide  Faith,  Hope,  and 
Love,  these  three." 

Nor  is  the  Word  of  God  bound  to  any  belief  we  may  have 
a*bout  the  outward  history  of  Jesus — his  miraculous  birth, 
his  own  miracles,  or  any  particular  outward  facts  of  his 
life.  The  essential  thing,  even  in  his  resurrection,  is  not 
the  outward  part  of  it,  but  the  inward  part ;  not  the  partic- 
ular way  in  which  he  arose,  as  that  he  did  go  up  to  a  higher 
life  ;  that  he  is  now  alive,  and  that  death  has  no  dominion 
over  him.  Faith  in  Christ  is  not  believing  this  or  that 
fact  about  him,  but  it  is  faith  in  himself,  faith  in  the  truth 
and  love,  which  are  incarnate  in  him,  and  which  were 
breathed  forth  in  all  he  said  and  did  and  was.  Deny  his 
miracles,  if  you  please  ;  you  cannot  deny  the  great  miracle 
of  his  influence  on  mankind.  Such  a  vast  effect  must  have 
its  cause.  I  read,  the  other  day,  a  statement  that  the  Jew- 
ish sect  called  the  Essenes  taught  all  the  truth  which  Jesus 
taught.  Why,  then,  did  not  the  Essenes  convert  the  world  ? 
Why  did  not  they  rise  on  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  empire  ? 
Why  did  they  not  convert  the  German  races,  and  build  up 
a  new  civilization,  as  the  faith  in  Jesus  did  ?  The  Lord's 
prayer  goes  up  to  heaven  every  morning  from  the  lips  of  tens 
of  thousands  of  little  children,  and  is  chanted  every  Sunday 
in  the  liturgies  of  nations.     You  say  something  very  like  it 


170  THE   WORD    OF    GOD    NOT   BOUND. 

is  to  be  found  in  the  Talmud.  Why,  then,  when  taught  in 
the  Talmud,  did  it  remain  there  unknown  and  dead,  while, 
coming  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  it  lives  forever  to  make  in- 
tercession for  us  ?  The  theory  is  evidently  shallow  which 
does  not  recognize  that  such  a  vast  current  of  spiritual  life 
must  have  had  its  origin  in  a  proportionately  profound 
spiritual  fountain. 

But  the  Word  of  God  is  not  bound  to  the  letter  of  the 
Gospels,  or  to  the  letter  of  the  history  of  Jesus.  Thus 
Paul  declares  when  he  says,  "  God  has  made  us  able 
ministers  of  the  New  Testament ;  not  of  the  letter,  but  of 
the  spirit ;  for  the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life." 
If  we  have  faith  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  in  the  divine  piety 
which  made  him  the  well-beloved  Son,  dwelling  always  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Father  ;  in  the  divine  charity  which  made 
him  the  friend  and  the  helper  of  the  humblest  of  God's 
children  ;  if  we  have  faith  in  these  as  the  true  life  to  lead 
here  and  as  salvation  hereafter,  then  we  have  the  real 
word  of  God  in  our  hearts,  and  believe  in  the  real  Christ. 

Jesus,  in  his  account  of  the  Great  Judgment,  teaches  us 
that  those  who  feed  the  hungry  and  clothe  the  naked  and 
do  works  of  love  are  really  doing  it  for  him,  though  they 
may  not  have  ever  known  him.  If  we  enter  into  the  spirit 
of  Jesus,  and  act  according  to  that  spirit,  then  we  have  the 
true  faith  in  Christ.  We  may  not  know  him  according  to 
the  flesh,  but  we  know  him  according  to  the  spirit,  which 
is  better.  So  much  better,  that  Paul,  who  had  been  under- 
valued as  an  apostle  because  he  had  never  known  the 
historic  Christ,  answered,  "If  I  had  known  Christ  after 
the  flesh  "  (the  historic  Christ),  "yet  now  know  I  him  no 
more."  Paul  had  entered  into  such  sympathy  with  the 
soul  of  Christ,  the  heart  of  Christ,  that  he  had  passed 
beyond  caring  for  the  details  of  his  outward  history.  The 
historic  Christ  is  no  doubt  of  immense  value  ;  every  detail 


THE   WORD    OF    GOD    NOT    BOUND.  I/I 

of  his  life  touches  the  heart  and  informs  the  mind  ;  yet 
the  Word  of  God  is  not  bound  to  it.  He  who  loves  God 
and  man  is  in  communion  with  the  true  Christ,  though  he 
may  never  have  heard  of  the  four  Gospels. 

Finally,  the  Word  of  God  is  not  bound  to  any  particular 
religious  experience.  Men  come  to  God  in  all  sorts  of 
ways  —  the  important  thing  is  to  come  to  him.  Some  are 
converted  suddenly ;  others  grow  up,  by  an  insensible 
process,  into  the  love  of  God.  God  has  a  great  many 
means  of  making  men  good. 

The  Jews  imagined  that  no  one  could  come  to  God 
except  by  the  great  Temple  worship  at  Jerusalem.  The 
Samaritans  thought  that  the  only  way  to  come  to  God  was 
by  worshipping  in  the  temple  on  Mount  Gerizim.  But* 
Jesus  said,  "  Neither  in  this  mountain  nor  yet  at  Jerusalem 
shall  men  worship  the  Father."  Some  men  are  brought  to 
God  by  a  conviction  of  sin  and  of  pardoning  love.  Some 
by  a  sense  of  duty  and  a  faithful  endeavor  to  do  right. 
Some  are  made  to  love  God  by  an  experience  of  joy,  and 
gratitude  opens  their  hearts  to  him.  Some  who  are  hard 
and  cold  when  God  blesses  them,  are  roused  by  sorrow, 
by  calamity,  by  trial.  God  has  ten  thousand  ways  of 
reaching  the  hearts  of  his  children.  But  we,  who  have 
this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  imagine  that  no  one  can 
drink  the  waters  of  salvation  except  out  of  some  pitcher 
made  just  like  our  own.  It  must  be  the  great  Roman 
Catholic  urn,  or  the  Methodist  cup,  or  the  Episcopal  vase, 
or  the  modern  goblet  of  Rational  Christianity.  But,  if 
Faith,  Hope  and  Love  are  dwelling  in  the  heart,  what 
matters  it  Jiow  they  come  ? 

The  Word  of  God  is  not  bound  to  any  church,  any  creed, 
any  profession  of  faith,   any  sacraments,  any  book,  any 
form  of  Christian  experience.     It  overflows  all  boundaries 
It  enters  human  hearts  and  minds  in  a  multitude  of  ways. 


172  THE   WORD    OF    GOD    NOT    BOUND. 

We  hear  the  sound  of  it  as  we  hear  the  wind  breathing  in 
soft  melody  in  the  tops-  of  the  pine  forest,  but  we  cannot 
tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth.  So  is  every  one 
who  is  born  of  the  spirit.  It  is  not  bound  to  any  forms  of 
prayer.  He  prays  well  who  loves  well.  One  may  pray  to 
God  in  words  or  without  words,  if  only  he  has  the  soul's 
sincere  desire  "  uttered  or  unexpressed."  The  soul's 
sincere  desire  is  the  essence  of  all  prayer.  If  a  man  find 
that  formal  and  regular  prayers  help  him,  let  him  pray  that 
way.  If  he  finds  that  he  comes  nearer  to  God  by  endeavor- 
ing to  live  a  pure  and  honest  life,  and  leaning  on  God's 
help  to  do  it,  let  him  pray  that  way.  He  who  loves  truly 
prays  well.  Here  is  a  poor  woman  who  is  obliged  to  be 
away  from  her  children  all  day,  working  hard  for  their 
support.  When  she  comes  home  at  night  she  finds  that 
her  oldest  boy  has  been  sawing  the  wood  and  bringing  the 
water,  and  that  the  oldest  girl  has  been  taking  care  of  the 
little  children  all  the  time  she  has  been  gone.  That  pleases 
her  more  than  all  the  affectionate  words  they  could  say  to 
her.  That  is  the  best  proof  of  their  love.  If  we  take  care 
of  God's  poor,  and  his  sick  and  his  sorrowful  children,  that 
will  be  counted  to  us,  I  think,  for  faith  and  prayer  and 
conversion  and  piety. 

"  Doing  good  and  being  good 
Are  laboring,  Lord,  with  thee ; 
Charity  is  gratitude, 
And  piety,  best  understood, 
Is  sweet  humanity." 


XVII. 

MANY  MANSIONS  IN  GOD'S  HOUSE. 

"  In  my  Fathers  house  are  many  mansions  ;  if  it  were  not 
so,  i  would  have  told  you.     i  go  to  prepare  a  place  for 

YOU." 

THIS  is  Easter  Sunday,  the  day  consecrated  through- 
out the  -Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant  churches  to 
the  memory  of  Christ's  resurrection.  No  fact  in  the  life  of 
Christ  or  the  history  of  man  has  been  celebrated  with  such 
perpetual,  continual,  triumphant  joy  as  this.  Easter  is  a 
greater  festival  than  Christmas,  which  celebrates  the  birth 
of  Jesus  ;  greater  than  Whitsunday,  which  celebrates  the 
birth  of  the  Church.  It  is  the  feast  of  triumph  —  triumph 
of  life  over  death,  of  good  over  evil,  of  faith  and  hope  over 
despair. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Christian  Church  was  built 
on  faith  in  the  resurrection  of  Jesus.  We  might  almost  say 
that  without  this  faith  the  Christian  Church  would  never 
have  been,  and  that  the  resurrection  of  Christ  was  the  res- 
urrection of  Christianity.  Some  great  event  happened 
which  changed  the  utter  despair  of  the  apostles  into  a  new 
faith  ;  their  cowardice  into  courage  ;  their  ignorance  into 
insight.  What  was  that  something  ?  What  was  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus  ? 

As  we  read  the  simple  and  candid  narratives,  and  lay 

them  side  by  side,  we  seem  only  partially  to  understand 

them.     We  see  the  event  as  in  a  glass,  darkly.     At  first  it 

(173) 


174  MANY    MANSIONS    IN    GOD'S    HOUSE. 

seems  as  if  Christ  came  back  in  exactly  the  same  body  he 
had  before  death.  But  further  reflection  shows  that  to  be 
highly  improbable.  That  would  only  have  been  the  reviving 
of  one  thought  to  be  dead,  like  the  return  of  Lazarus  to  life, 
and  would  have  produced  no  such  astounding  impression. 
A  return  to  this  world  would  not  have  opened  the  gates  of 
the  other  world.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  was  it  a  mere 
ghost  that  appeared  to  the  disciples.  Ghosts  startle  and 
terrify.  A  ghost  may  give  information,  or  comfort,  or 
warning,  but  could  hardly  so  inspire  the  souls  of  men  with 
faith  as  to  create  a  new  religion.  "We  are  born  again," 
say  the  apostles,  "  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from 
the  dead,  into  a  living  hope."  "  If  Christ  be  not  risen," 
says  Paul,  "  our  preaching  is  vain,  and  your  faith  is  also 
vain." 

The  conviction  the  apostles  acquired  through  this  event 
was  that  Christ  had  abolished  death  and  brought  life  and 
immortality  to  light.  They  saw  their  risen  Master  as  one 
over  whom  death  had  no  power.  They  seemed  to  be  look- 
ing into  a  higher  world,  and  understood  that  death  was 
nothing  to  him  who  dies ;  that  he  does  not  taste  death,  but 
passes  from  life  into  a  higher  life.  And  so  firmly  rooted 
in  their  minds  was  this  conviction,  so  sure  were  they  of  it, 
that  they  realized  Christ's  prediction,  "  He  who  believeth 
in  me  shall  never  die."  And  this  faith  they  transmitted  to 
all  to  whom  they  preached,  so  that  the  world  gradually  be- 
came filled  with  a  new  conviction  and  a  new  hope. 

Man,  by  nature,  has  an  instinct  of  immortality ;  and 
through  the  inference  of  his  reason  he  also  has  a  belief  in 
it.  Hence,  all  races,  all  nations,  all  religions,  have  had 
faith  in  a  hereafter.  Brahmins  and  Buddhists,  ancient 
Egyptians  and  ancient  Persians,  Greeks  and  Romans,  Kelts 
and  Teutons,  Africans  and  Esquimaux,  Mexicans  and  Pe- 
ruvians, North  American  Incjians  and  South  Sea  Islanders. 


MANY   MANSIONS    IN    GOD'S    HOUSE.  1 75 

have  all  believed  in  a  future  life.  And  so  have  all  the 
great  thinkers,  the  philosophers,  the  poets.  Serious  Plato, 
noble  Socrates,  Cicero  and  Tacitus,  Homer,  Virgil  and 
Dante,  Descartes  and  Spinoza — all  unite  in  the  same  tes- 
timony. The  exceptions  are  so  few  as  to  prove  the  rule 
that  man,  both  by  his  instinct  and  his  reason,  is  a  believer 
in  a  future  life. 

Hear  Goethe,  for  example  :  "  I  should  be  the  very  last 
man  to  dispense  with  faith  in  a  future  life.  I  would  say, 
with  Lorenzo  di  Medici,  that  all  those  are  dead,  even  for 
the  present  life,  who  do  not  believe  in  another.  I  have  a 
firm  conviction  that  the  soul  is  an  existence  of  an  inde- 
structible nature,  whose  working  is  from  eternity  to  eternity. 
It  is  like  the  sun,  which  seems  indeed  to  set,  but  really  never 
sets,  shining  on  in  unchangeable  splendor." 

In  all  the  highest  moments  of  life,  death  disappears 
utterly  from  our  thought.  The  fear  of  death  ceases  in  any 
moment  when  the  soul  is  all  alive.  Even  the  excitement 
of  battle,  which  gives  a  temporary  vitality  to  man,  lifts  him 
above  fear.  But  the  martyrs,  inspired  by  high  convictions 
of  truth,  walked  gladly  to  the  stake  and  flame.  John 
Brown,  filled  with  the  love  of  humanity,  went  to  his  Vir- 
ginia gallows  with  a  calm  serenity  which  filled  his  deadliest 
foes  with  admiration. 

What,  then,  has  Christianity  added  to  the  universal 
human  faith  in  immortality  ?  Not  any  clearer  notion  about 
the  hereafter ;  it  does  not  seem  intended  that  we  should 
know  much  about  its  details  or  circumstances  while  we  are 
yet  here.  God  means  us,  while  we  are  in  this  world,  to 
think  about  this  life,  not  about  the  next,  and  therefore  has 
hung  a  veil  between  the  two  worlds.  What  Jesus  has  done 
has  been  to  make  immortality  more  real  to  all  mankind  by 
putting  more  spiritual  life  into  all  mankind.  As  soon  as 
Christianity  began  its  course,  death  ceased  to  be  the  King 


I76  MANY    MANSIONS    IN    GOD's    HOUSE. 

of  Terrors.  The  early  Christians  did  not  speak  of  dying, 
but  of  going  to  sleep.  They  called  their  place  of  interment 
a  cemetery  —  that  is,  a  sleeping-place.  Even  when  Stephen 
was  stoned  to  death,  they  said  of  him,  "  He  fell  asleep." 
Then  there  came  over  the  world  a  sense  of  relief  from  the 
old  horror  of  the  under  world.  And  to-day,  in  all  Christian 
lands,  faith  in  an  immortality  which  takes  us  up  to  a  higher 
state  —  not  down  to  a  lower  —  is  the  universal  hope.  This 
supports  the  sufferer  on  his  bed  of  pain  j  this  gives  com- 
fort to  the  worn-out  child  of  toil.  The  slave,  all  whose 
rights  here  are  taken  from  him,  looks  forward  to  a  com- 
pensation hereafter.  The  victim  of  tyranny,  of  injustice, 
to  whom  this  world  brings  no  redress  for  his  wrongs,  an- 
ticipates a  tribunal  where  all  wrong  shall  be  made  right, 
innocence  vindicated,  and  the  truth  become  clear. 

We  do  not  know,  as  I  have  said,  much  about  the  other 
life.  But  we  know  this  :  that  the  same  Being  rules  by  the 
same  laws  in  this  world  as  in  all  other  worlds.  As  God  is 
always  the  same,  we  may  be  sure  that  his  laws  and  methods 
in  this  world  are  not  contradicted  or  opposed  to  his  methods 
in  other  worlds  ;  and  that  we  may  learn  something  of  what 
he  does  for  us  in  the  future  by  what  he  does  for  us  in  the 
present.  The  future  life  will  not,  indeed,  be  a  mere  repe- 
tition of  this,  but  doubtless  will  correspond  to  it.  As 
Milton  has  already  suggested, 

"  What  if  earth 
Be  but  the  shadow  of  heaven  ;  and  things  therein 
Each  to  other  like,  more  than  on  earth  is  thought  ?  " 

Let  us  look,  therefore,  at  some  of  these  correspondences 
or  analogies,  in  order  to  correct  and  elevate  our  ideas  of 
heaven. 

When  a  child  comes  into  this  world,  he  comes  into  a 
home  which  God  has  provided  for  him  beforehand.     He 


177 

finds  father  and  mother,  brothers  and  sisters,  a  house, 
rooms,  books,  schools,  play  —  in-doors  and  out  of  doors, 
young  companions ;  all  made  ready  for  his  use.  He 
is  at  once  absorbed  in  these  outward  interests,  and  does 
not  stop  to  look  in  and  ask,  "  Who  am  I  ? "  and  "  Whence 
did  I  come  ?  "     All  that  is  left  for  a  future  time. 

So  it  may  be,  and  very  likely  will  be,  with  us  when  we 
enter  the  next  world.  We  shall  find  a  home  provided  for 
us ;  a  place  made  ready  ;  wiser  and  older  friends  to  meet 
and  receive  us  ;  enough  around  for  us  to  see,  to  do,  to  love, 
to  enjoy.  We  may  become  little  children  again  —  all  of 
us.  We  may  lay  down  the  burden  of  years  and  cares,  and 
begin  life  anew  under  these  glad,  angelic  auspices.  All 
the  knowledge  and  faculty  which  we  have  gathered  in  this 
life  will  seem  childlike  ignorance  by  the  side  of  the  wisdom 
of  these  lofty  and  grand  souls  who  may  be  to  us  guardians, 
guides  and  friends.  We  shall  feel  ourselves  little  children 
beside  them  in  our  ignorance  and  weakness,  and  shall 
gladly  be  guided  by  their  larger  experience. 

These  homes  provided  for  us  beforehand  may  be  infin- 
itely varied  there,  as  they  are  here.  Variety  seems  to  be 
one  of  the  most  universal  laws  of  creation.  What  infinite 
variety  in  this  world  —  of  climate,  vegetation,  scenery, 
races  of  animals  and  of  men,  national  customs,  modes  of 
civilization.  The  infinite  Being  has  by  no  means  exhaust- 
ed his  creative  power  in  making  this  little  planet.  Through- 
out the  immense  extent  of  the  universe,  during  an  infinite 
past,  he  has  been  unfolding  his  power  and  wisdom  in  crea- 
tion. So,  no  doubt,  the  worlds  into  which  we  shall  enter 
hereafter  will  be  different  in  a  thousand  ways  from  this 
world.  In  this  world  we  have  objects  of  sight,  touch,  taste, 
smell,  hearing.  Who  knows  that  in  the  future  world,  we 
may  not  have  other  senses,  by  which  to  perceive  other  qual- 
ities of  things  ?     Why  should  there  be  just  five  senses,  and 

12 


178  MANY    MANSIONS    IN    GOd's    HOUSE. 

no  more  ?  We  cannot  conceive,  to  be  sure,  of  another 
sense,  or  how  there  can  be  another  ;  but  neither  could  we 
have  conceived,  if  we  had  now  only  four  senses,  what  the 
fifth  would  reveal.  Suppose,  for  example,  that  there  never 
had  been  any  sense  of  hearing ;  how,  by  any  possibility, 
could  we  then  have  imagined  the  harmonies  of  sound,  the 
articulations  of  speech,  the  melodies  of  rushing  winds  and 
falling  waters  and  singing  birds,  and  the  tender  intona- 
tions of  human  language  ?  Or,  if  there  had  never  been 
such  a  thing  as  sight  or  the  human  eye,  who  could  have 
conceived  beforehand  of  the  possibilities  of  form,  color, 
sunrise,  starlight,  the  blue  sky,  the  green  woods,  the  beau- 
ty of  flowers,  and  the  loveliness  of  the  human  face  ?  Many 
more  senses  may  hereafter  be  given  us,  by  which  new  re- 
gions of  enjoyment  and  new  gateways  into  nature  may  be 
opened.  "  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions  ;  " 
who  can  limit  in  thought  the  creative  power  of  the  Almighty  ? 
In  this  world,  all  our  activity  and  all  our  joy  come  from 
three  sources  —  Thought,  Love,  Work.  First  there  is  intel- 
ligence, exercise  of  intellect,  creating  our  knowledge,  giving 
the  power  of  thinking  accurately  and  justly  ;  there  is  that  in- 
spiration which  all  men  share  more  or  less,  by  which  a 
stream  of  new  ideas  flows  into  the  mind  from  some  upper 
source.  This  is  one  fountain  of  human  joy.  A  man  who 
is  thinking  and  learning  something  has  a  certain  content- 
ment and  satisfaction  of  mind  in  that.  A  second  source 
of  contentment  is  work.  To  be  able  to  exercise  our  pow- 
ers, to  accomplish  something,  to  imitate  God  by  creating,  to 
bring  order  out  of  confusion,  to  add  something  to  the  wealth 
of  the  world  —  this  is  another  great  source  of  satisfaction. 
And,  thirdly,  there  is  love.  To  be  able  to  go  out  of  ourselves ; 
to  sympathize  with  others,  to  enter  into  their  needs  and 
perplexities,  to  help  them  forward,  to  enjoy  and  reverence 
great  qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  to  feel  at  home  in  the  so- 


MANY   MANSIONS    IN   GODS   HOUSE.  1 79 

ciety  and  friendship  of  other  minds  —  this  is  another  of  the 
essentials  of  happiness.  But  when  we  have  them  all  united, 
we  have  a  sort  of  heaven,  even  in  this  life.  We  have  a  per- 
fect contentment  when  we  work  steadily  for  a  good  end  ; 
work  in  sympathy  and  friendship  with  others,  and  work  in- 
telligently, with  new  thoughts  coming  to  us,  and  getting 
new  knowledge  out  of  our  work  evermore.  That  makes 
heaven  here,  and  that  is  why  Paul  spoke  of  sitting  in  heav- 
enly places  with  Jesus  Christ  now. 

Heaven  hereafter  is  probably  the  same  thing,  only  carried 
upward  and  onward.  A  new  world,  new  senses,  new  fac- 
ulties, will  give  us  more  to  know,  so  that  all  we  have  learned 
in  this  life  will  seem  like  the  ignorance  of  a  little  child. 
And  who  can  tell  us  how  much  there  may  be  to  do  here- 
after ?  What  great  works  may  not  be  going  on  in  the  uni- 
verse ?  The  insoluble  problems  of  life,  which  daunt  and 
confound  us  here,  are  but  the  shadows  thrown  down  on 
our  globe  from  the  vast  events  going  forward  in  worlds  be- 
yond. The  conflict  between  freedom  and  fate,  the  antag- 
onism of  soul  and  body,  the  existence  of  evil  in  a  present 
world,  these  mysteries  are  suggestions  of  how  much  there 
is  to  be  known  and  done  hereafter. 

And  how  much,  also,  to  be  loved  !  Love  here  is  one  of 
the  best  things  we  have  ;  but  love  here  is  only  in  its  rudi- 
ments. What  may  it  not  become  in  the  other  world,  when 
we  shall  be  lifted  into  communion  with  the  wise,  the  good, 
the  noble,  the  beautiful,  who  have  gone  up  and  on  ;  when 
we  shall  be  surrounded  by  their  sympathy,  blessed  by  their 
affection ;  when  Christ  shall  come  to  find  us  with  the  an- 
gels and  archangels  ;  and  when  we,  in  our  mansion,  in  our 
sphere,  shall  be  able  to  work  with  them  in  theirs,  for  the 
advancement  and  redemption  of  the  universe.  Love  made 
perfect  which  casts  out  all  fear,  shall  bring  us  into  a 
heavenly  sympathy  with  the  whole  creation  of  God. 


180  MANY   MANSIONS    IN    GOD'S    HOUSE. 

The  essential  difference  between  heaven  and  hell,  ac- 
cording to  St.  Augustine  and  the  early  Church  Fathers,  is 
this  —  that  heaven  is  the  sight  of  God,  and  hell  is  the  loss 
of  that  sight.  This  is  the  beatific  vision,  or  sight  of  God, 
which  makes  heaven,  and  the  absence  of  which  makes 
hell. 

But  we  may  see  God  in  this  world  —  not  directly,  indeed, 
for  he  dwells  in  light  inaccessible  and  full  of  glory.  He  is 
not  hidden  from  us  by  darkness,  but  by  light.  As  our  ears 
are  only  tuned  to  hear  a  few  octaves  of  music,  and  all  the 
other  harmonies  of  heaven  and  earth  escape  us,  so,  while 
"  this  muddy  vesture  of  decay  "  shuts  us  in,  our  eye  can 
only  range  through  a  certain  scale  of  light.  All  above  it  is 
too  bright,  all  below  it  too  dark.  God  is  present  in  nature 
around  us.  He  is  present  in  our  own  soul.  But  we  only 
see  him  in  these  indirectly.  Yet  we  see  him  as  in  a  glass, 
darkly  j  see  him  as  through  a  veil.  In  the  order  and  won- 
der of  creation,  in  the  majesty  of  sunrise  and  sunset,  in  the 
infinite  range  of  the  midnight  heavens,  we  see  God's  pres- 
ence. 

We  have  the  sense  of  an  Infinite  Power  behind  all  finite 
forces  :  an  Infinite  Ordering  Mind  behind  all  law ;  an  In- 
finite Love  behind  all  goodness.  And,  in  the  trials  and 
perplexities  of  life,  in  hours  of  sorrow  and  of  sin,  the  heav- 
ens are  sometimes  opened  and  we  see  God.  A  calm  peace 
comes  down  into  the  soul,  a  new  life,  a  new  power  fills  our 
heart  and  our  thought.  We  realize  the  presence  of  our 
heavenly  Father. 

Thus  we  can  understand  a  little  how  we  shall  see  God 
hereafter.  Though  we  cannot  look  directly  at  the  sun,  we 
feel  sunlight  and  see  it  all  around  us.  So  we  may  see  the 
shining  of  God,  the  sunlight  of  his  love,  all  around  us,  as 
by  some  other  sense,  by  some  deeper  power  than  we  have 
now.    The  religious  man  is  as  sure  of  God's  presence  in 


MANY    MANSIONS    IN    GOd's    HOUSE.  l8l 

this  world  as  he  is  of  his  own.  He  does  not  believe  in  God 
because  of  any  argument.  He  knows  God  by  the  intuition 
of  his  own  soul.  When  Paul  said  "  In  Him  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being,"  he  was  just  as  sure  of  God's 
being  as  of  the  world  around. 

In  the  other  world,  what  Paul  and  other  religious  men 
have  felt,  we  shall  all  feel.  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart," 
said  Jesus,  "  for  they  shall  see  God."  We  all  shall  see  God, 
and  know  him,  as  we  now  know  the  reality  of  things  which 
the  senses  cannot  show.  We  are  not  more  sure  of  the  ex- 
istence of  our  bodies  than  we  are  of  joy,  sorrow,  hope,  fear, 
choice,  reason,  beauty,  love.  These  are  realities,  though 
they  cannot  be  touched,  tasted,  or  seen  with  the  outward 
eye.  So  shall' God  be  known  as  near,  as  our  life,  as  our 
strength,  as  our  joy,  as  the  root  of  all  we  are,  as  the  hope 
of  all  we  desire,  as  the  boundless  fountain  of  love,  flowing 
evermore  into  our  heart  and  our  soul. 

But  Christ  said  to  his  disciples,  "  I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you."  He  may  prepare  a  place  for  them  and  for  us 
there,  as  he  prepares  it  here. 

But,  if  our  mansions  are  already  existing  in  our  Father's 
House,  mansions  so  various  and  numerous  as  to  suit  all 
needs,  how  does  Christ  prepare  a  place  for  his  disciples  ? 
Why  does  he  say,  "  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you,"  if  all 
these  mansions  already  exist  ?  And  in  what  way  can  he 
prepare  a  place  in  the  other  world  ?  He  can  prepare  us  for 
a  place  —  that  wTe  are  accustomed  to  believe  —  but  how  can 
he  prepare  a  place  for  us  ? 

Here  is  another  difficulty :  I  answer  it  in  this  way  — 
Although  God  has  made  many  mansions  here  for  his  chil- 
dren, and  introduces  every  one  into  his  appropriate  place  in 
this  world,  yet  Christ  prepares  the  place  for  us  here,  and 
we  enter  a  world  Christianized  for  us  by  his  influence.  We 
enter  a  home  where  the  hearts  of  father,  mother,  brother 


1 82  MANY    MANSIONS    IN    GOD'S    HOUSE. 


* 


and  sister,  have  been  more  or  less  influenced  by  the  spirit 
of  Christ.  The  infant  is  welcomed  into  the  world  by  a 
Christian  welcome.  Christian  waters  of  baptism  touch  its 
innocent  and  unconscious  brow.  Christian  love  watches 
its  slumbers,  prays  by  its  bedside,  and  teaches  it  to  be 
true,  just  and  obedient.  The  boy  enters  a  school  where 
Jesus  Christ  has  modified  all  the  teachings  by  his  truth  and 
life.  This  young  man  enters  a  society  where  Christian 
churches  shed  a  hallowing  influence  on  all  parts  of  life  and 
conduct.  So  Christ  prepares  a  place  for  us  here,  and  the 
essence  of  this  preparation  is  a  spirit  of  love.  There  is 
more  of  love  in  the  world  because  Christ  has  been  in  it. 
God  is  loved  rather  than  feared ;  man  is  loved  rather  than 
hated.  Jesus  harmonizes,  unites,  and  pacifies  mankind. 
His  religion  is  the  great  element  of  concord  in  the  world. 

And  so  Jesus  prepares  a  place  for  us  in  the  other  world 
in  a  like  manner.  When  he  went  into  the  other  world,  he 
went  not  merely  to  seek  there  his  own  joy,  but  to  prepare 
ours.  He  went  not  to  stay,  sitting  on  a  throne  of  glory  ; 
but,  having  prepared  our  place,  to  come  and  receive  us  to 
himself.  He  did  not  lose  his  love  for  the  world,  or  for 
mankind,  or  cease  to  work  for  our  redemption  when  he 
entered  heaven.  His  love  for  us  did  not  diminish  as  he 
went  nearer  to  God,  but  increased.  He  went  into  his  rest  in 
heaven,  but  his  rest  is  a  greater  activity  of  good.  He  be- 
came "  highly  exalted,"  but  how  ?  ".  to  be  the  head  over  all 
things  ki  his  church,"  the  living  head,  the  active  head,  the 
blessed  Redeemer  and  Saviour,  "  who  lived  and  was  dead, 
and  behold  he  is  alive  forevermore." 

Perhaps  in  the  other  world  he  prepares  a  place  for  us 
by  diffusing  his  spirit  there  among  the  angels.  Perhaps  he 
turns  the  thoughts  of  exalted  and  ascending  souls  to  earth, 
and  to  man's  needs.  Perhaps  he  creates  a  heavenly  sym- 
pathy, an  angelic  pity,  in  those  great  spheres  of  thought 


i83 

and  life  towards  us  here  below.  He  causes  that  there  shall 
be  greater  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth.  Were  it  not  for  Christ,  the  grand 
powers  of  magnificent  spirits,  ascending  ever  upward  in 
circles  and  spirals  of  rising  thought,  aspiring  towards  God 
evermore,  might  lift  them  away  from  sympathy  with  our 
low  condition.  Above,  as  below,  Christ  represents  the 
harmonizing  element  which  is  his  peculiar  gift  from  his 
Father.  He  counteracts  and  balances  the  ascent  of  as- 
piration with  the  descent  of  sympathy,  the  love  of  God 
with  the  love  of  man.  He  prepares  a  place  for  us  by 
awakening  in  the  spirits  above  a  sympathy  like  his  own  for 
the  spirits  below.  His  grace  and  truth  penetrate  the  celes- 
tial spheres,  as  they  have  leavened  the  earthly  ones.  Thus 
with  the  great  law  of  progress,  by  which  souls  ascend  up- 
ward more  and  more,  is  joined  Christ's  law  of  love,  by 
which  the  first  becomes  last,  the  highest  archangel  descend- 
ing to  the  humblest  work  of  sympathy.  And  thus  is  set 
aside  forever  that  doubt  which  intrudes  so  often  into  loving 
hearts,  whether  those  who  were  so  dear  to  us  in  this  life 
may  not  in  their  upward  ascent  have  soared  far  away  from 
our  communion.  "  Can  we  be  anything  to  them,"  we  ask, 
"there?" 

Yes.  For  when  Christ  prepares  a  place  for  us,  he  comes 
to  us  to  receive  us  to  himself.  And  what  Christ  does,  that 
do  all  those  who  belong  to  Christ  and  are  like  Christ.  Jesus 
does  not  soar  away  out  of  sight,  and  disappear  forever  from 
human  knowledge  in  a  lonely  flight  to  the  lonely  God.  No  ; 
but  his  ascent  is  also  condescension  ;  his  progress  is  outward 
into  an  enlarging  sympathy  to  all,  downward  into  a  more 
profound  pity  and  tenderness  for  the  lost  ones,  as  well  as 
upward  into  greater  knowledge  of  God.  His  progress  is 
not  in  one  direction  only,  but  in  all  three  directions.  And 
similar  is  the  progress  of  all  Christianized  spirits.     They 


184  MANY   MANSIONS    IN    GOD'S    HOUSE. 

do  not  go  away  from  us  by  their  progress,  but  come  nearer 
to  us.  They  do  not  lose  their  love  for  us,  but  have  more 
of  it,  deeper,  tenderer,  larger,  as  they  advance  along  the 
ascending  highway  of  being.  As  Jacob  in  his  dream  saw 
on  the  ladders  of  heaven  the  angels  of  God  not  only  as- 
cending but  also  descending,  so  for  ever  do  the  good  and 
true  come  down  into  a  greater  sympathy  while  they  go  up 
into  loftier  purity. 

The  next  words  confirm  wholly  this  truth,  if  it  needs 
confirmation.  "  I  will  come  again,  and  receive  you  into 
myself,  that  where  I  am,  there  may  ye  be  also."  Christ 
wishes  us  to  be  with  him.  It  is  not  enough  that  he  is 
happy  in  his  place,  and  we  in  ours  ;  we  "must  be  happy  to- 
gether. True,  we  cannot  go  to  him.  He  is  so  high  above 
us,  his  life  so  much  more  profound,  his  love  so  divine,  that 
his  home  is  probably  far  above  ours,  inaccessible  to  our 
feeble  virtue.  But  though  the  lower  cannot  go  up  to  the 
higher,  the  higher  can  come  down  to  the  lower.  He  can 
and  he  will  come  to  us,  and  receive  us  to  himself. 

This,  then,  is  the  beautiful  and  divine  truth  taught  in 
this  passage — that  where  law  divides,  love  reunites.  Sep- 
arate mansions,  but  the  same  home.  Each  soul  its  own 
place,  work,  opportunity,  but  each  in  union  with  the  high- 
est soul  which  loves  it.  The  love  of  the  pure  and  holy 
spirit  brings  it  down  into  communion  with  the  lower  spirit. 
So  all  things  are  ours,  whether  Paul  or  Apollos  or  Peter ; 
all  the  great  and  noble  souls,  Milton  and  Fenelon  and 
Luther;  the  noble  men  and  women  of  all  times  ;  they  all  be- 
long to  us.  If  our  faces  are  turned  upwards,  they  descend 
to  us,  Socrates  and  1  lato,  Washington  and  Aristides,  Cow- 
per  and  Wordsworth,  and  those  who  have  helped  us  here. 
There  we  may  hope  to  meet  again  Channing,  and  Theo- 
dore Parker,  and  Henry  Ware,  and  John  Andrew,  and 
Ellis  Gray  Loring,  all  the  noble  men,  and  saintly  women, 


MANY   MANSIONS   IN    GOD'S   HOUSE.  1 85 

and  darling  children,  whose  lives  have  taught  us  what  life 
is  worth,  and  who  have  gone  up  before  us  leading  our 
hearts  upward  where  they  have  gone.  The  love  of  Christ 
constrains  them  to  be  with  us. 

Sometimes  in  dreams  we  have  the  foretaste  of  this  heaven. 
Sometimes  in  dreams  we  feel  ourselves  visited  by  the 
noblest  and  grandest  natures,  who  come  and  talk  with  us 
familiarly  as  friends.  The  barriers  of  condition,  circum- 
stance and  character  seem  removed.  We  are  at  home  with 
these  immortal  and  divine  spirits.  Magnificent  in  wisdom, 
glowing  with  the  glory  of  the  skies,  they  yet  treat  us  as  the 
mother  treats  her  child  ;  they  make  us  at  home  with  them  ; 
they  raise  us  into  the  same  sphere  as  their  own.  I  have 
hid  dreams  of  such  superior  essences,  whom  I  seemed  to 
know  well  and  intimately,  and  who  seemed  to  know  me 
better  than  I  knew  myself.  And  this  is  my  idea  of  heaven. 
To  every  one  his  own  place,  his  own  work,  his  own  posi- 
tion, exactly  fitted  to  his  character,  but  every  one  visited 
from  on  high  by  these  perpetually  descending  souls  from 
more  celestial  spheres,  taking  us  momentarily  into  their 
own  peace  and  light  and  purity. 

Mrs.  Browning,  a  modern  prophet,  because  deeply  in- 
spired by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  truth  and  love,  has  thus  writ- 
ten in  a  strain  like  that  of  John  in  the  Apocalypse. 

God  reigns  above,  he  reigns  alone, 
Systems  burn  out  and  leave  his  throne, 
Fair  mists  of  Seraphs  melt  and  fall 
Around  him,  changeless  amid  all  — 
Ancient  of  days,  whose  days  go  on. 

For  us,  whatever's  undergone, 
Thou  knowest,  wiliest,  what  is  done. 
Grief  may  be  joy  misunderstood; 
Only  the  good  discerns  the  good, 
I  trust  thee  while  my  days  go  on. 


1 86  MANY    MANSIONS    IN    GOD'S   HOUSE. 

I  praise  thee  while  my  days  go  on, 

I  love  thee  while  my  days  go  on ; 

Through  dark  and  dearth,  through  fire  and  frost, 

Wit  emptied  arms  and  treasure  lost  — 

I  thank  thee  while  my  days  go  on. 


XVIII. 

NOT  UNCLOTHED,  BUT  CLOTHED  UPON. 

U  not  THAT  WE  SHOULD  BE  UNCLOTHED,  BUT   CLOTHED  UPON,  THAT 
MORTALITY  MIGHT  BE  SWALLOWED  UP  OF  LIFE." 

THE  doctrine  of  this  text  is  that  we  do  not  wish  to  be  dis- 
embodied spirits  hereafter,  but  to  have  another  higher 
body  superinduced  on  this.  I  think  the  phrase  indicates  a 
desire  for  a  process  of  gradual  development  instead  of  a 
sudden  change,  and  that  death  shall  not  mean  that  the  soul 
has  lost  its  body,  but  that  a  finer  and  more  spiritual  one 
shall  be  developed  around  the  soul. 

The  body,  in  this  passage,  is  first  compared  to  a  taber- 
nacle—  that  is,  a  tent  —  and  then  to  a  building.  The 
apostle  means  to  say  that  the  present  body  is  like  a  tent, 
which  is  a  mere  transient  residence  ;  the  body  which  is  to 
be  is  like  a  house  or  temple,  meant  to  stand  for  a  hundred 
or  a  thousand  years.  Perhaps  there  flitted  through  his 
mind  the  idea  of  the  Jewish  Tabernacle,  or  church  tent, 
which  they  carried  with  them  through  the  wilderness  —  a 
sort  of  travelling  church,  a  movable  chapel,  where  they  had 
their  sacrificial  worship  every  day- — which  was  so  made 
that  it  could  be  taken  to  pieces,  and  put  up  again.  The 
present  body  is  like  that;  the  body  to  come  is  like  the 
Temple  of  Solomon  on  Mount  Moriah,  built  of  solid  marble, 
immoyable,  incorruptible,  undecaying  ;  glittering  white  like 
a  glacier  in  the  morning  sun,  glowing  rosy  in  the  evening 
twilight  —  a  beauty  and  a  wonder  of  the  world. 

(187) 


1 88     NOT  UNCLOTHED,  BUT  CLOTHED  UPON. 

No  doubt  the  corruptible  body  weighs  down  the  soul.  In 
one  point  of  view  there  is  no  correspondence  between 
them ;  they  are  deadly  foes.  Here  is  a  poor  soul  strug- 
gling to  get  at  some  truth,  some  beauty,  some  love,  some 
goodness,  and  it  is  imprisoned  in  a  body  which  will  not  let 
it  do  so.  The  bodily  organization  is  dull  and  heavy,  is  un- 
vivacious,  is  coarse  and  unrefined  ;  it  tends  to  irritability  arjd 
wilfulness,  instead  of  sweetness  and  beauty.  It  is  a  tragedy 
in  which  we  are  all  actors.  The  soul  aspires,  the  body 
drags  it  down.  We  have  gleams  of  heaven  ;  we  are  caught 
up  to  God  ;  and  presently  we  find  ourselves  far  down,  with 
thick  clouds  of  earthly  gloom  and  mist  between  us.  We 
have  the  treasure,  but  we  have  it  in  earthen  vessels. 

In  all  men  there  is  some  hereditary  depravity.  Some  per- 
sons have  a  good  deal  of  it ;  but  they  are  not  responsible 
for  having  it.  They  are  only  responsible  for  not  trying  to 
conquer  it,  and  cure  it.  If  they  indulge  it,  if  they  defend 
it,  excuse  it,  lie  about  it,  or  try  to  make  it  out  to  be  right, 
then  they  make  it  their  own,  and  become  responsible  for 
it :  not  otherwise.  Their  ancestors,  a  thousand  years  ago, 
may  have  been  Norman  pirates  ;  from  them  still  runs  in 
their  veins,  perhaps,  some  rudeness  of  feeling  or  stubborn- 
ness of  will.  They  are  not  to  blame  for  it ;  but  it  is  their 
business  to  refine  it  —  to  get  rid  of  the  rudeness,  and  keep 
the  strength.  Their  ancestors  may  have  been  dark  fana- 
tics, and  have  helped  burn  witches  or  heretics  ;  and  so  some 
black  drops  of  that  blood  may  make  them  wish  to  put  down 
by  will  the  Reformers  of  to-day.  But  it  is  their  business 
to  put  down,  not  the  innovators,  but  their  own  feeling  about 
them.  God  will  take  care  of  the  radicals  ;  our  business  is 
to  take  care  of  ourselves. 

Nevertheless,  the  body  is,  with  all  its  defects,  the  clothing 
for  the  soul.  All  clothing  does,  in  some  sort,  begin  to  cor- 
respond with  the  wearer,  and  to  express  a  little  his  tastes 


NOT    UNCLOTHED,    BUT    CLOTHED    UPON.  I 89 

and  ideas.  We  see  a  man's  mind  somewhat  in  his  dress, 
just  as  we  see  it  a  little  in  his  handwriting ;  in  the  way  in 
which  he  speaks  or  walks ;  in  the  church  he  goes  to,  the 
profession  he  chooses.  All  these  signs  fail  ;  still  they  are 
signs.  So  there  is  a  truth  in  the  sciences  of  Physiognomy 
and  Phrenology,  though  they  may  often  fail.  The  body  has 
some  kind  of  correspondence  with  the  mind.  The  dress  of 
a  Turk  corresponds  with  his  dignified  character,  his  quiet 
ways,  his  slowness  and  solemnity.  He  cannot  run  about  in 
it,  or  climb,  or  jump  ;  and  he  does  not  wish  to.  He  is  too 
solemn  for  that. 

Thus  the  human  body  has  some  sort  of  analogy  to  the 
soul  that  it  wears.  You  look  at  a  face,  you  hear  a  voice, 
you  see  the  gestures,  and  an  impression  is  made  on  you  of 
character.  That  impression  is  often  the  best  and  most 
reliable  means  of  knowing  a  man's  character.  It  is  spon- 
taneous. It  shows,  whether  he  will  or  not.  He  may  try 
to  conceal  his  purpose,  but  it  speaks  from  his  eye ;  it  gives 
inflection  to  his  voice ;  it  inspires  involuntary  distrust. 
There  is  something  false  and  hollow  in  the  sound  of  this 
man's  words,  because  his  intention  is  false  and  hollow. 
There  is  something  convincing  in  this  other  man's  speech, 
apart  from  what  he  says  ;  it  is  the  sincere  tone,  the  truthful 
emphasis,  the  inflection  born  not  of  the  rhetorician's  teach- 
ing, but  of  the  pure  soul  itself.  Men  judge  others,  by  their 
actions  ;  women,  more  sensitive  to  the  slighter  influences, 
judge  people  by  the  impression  they  make  on  them.  They 
are  very  apt  to  be  right  in  their  judgment,  for  this  impres- 
sion is  the  effluence  of  our  total  nature,  which  we  cannot 
make  and  cannot  hinder,  and  which  tells  the  story  better 
than  our  words. 

Some  people  argue  as  though  this  body  were  all  bad, 
and  say  that  in  heaven  we  shall  have  none,  but  be  floating 
about  the  universe,  pure  disembodied  spirits.     Paul  does 


I90    NOT  UNCLOTHED,  BUT  CLOTHED  UPON. 

not  say  that ;  he  says  the  opposite  j  body  is  to  remain,  but 
the  mortal  part  of  it  is  to  be  swallowed  up  of  life.  Body, 
in  its  lowest  form,  is  a  mystery  of  wonder  j  the  human  body 
is  the  most  wonderful  and  beautiful  thing  on  earth.  It  is 
a  muddy  vesture  of  decay,  but  it  is  also  a  transparent  veil 
through  which  the  soul  shines.  Look  at  it  in  little  children, 
before  it  is  degraded  by  toil  or  sin  \  what  grace  and  charm 
in  their  looks  and  motions  !  See  it  in  its  ideal  forms  in 
the  statues  of  Greece  ;  what  grandeur  and  dignity  in  the 
Apollo  of  the  Vatican  ;  what  overflowing  grace  in  the 
Amazon  of  the  Capitol,  or  the  Flora  of  Naples  !  Now  these 
forms  give  us  hints  of  a  more  idealized,  and  higher  beauty ; 
In  the  future  life,  the  body,  "vital  in  every  part,  cannot 
but  by  annihilating  die."  Sown  in  corruption,  it  rises 
incorruptible  j  sown  mortal,  it  rises  immortal.  Sown 
weakest  of  all  earthly  creatures,  needing  clothing  to  keep 
out  cold,  and  houses  to  protect  it  from  weather  ;  unable  to 
move  through  water  like  the  fish,  through  air  like  the  bird  ; 
behold  !  it  rises  into  poiuer,  perhaps  fleeter  than  the  electric 
current,  more  luminous  with  thought  than  the  sun  with 
light,  yet  a  body  still,  the  human  body  still.  Not  unclothed, 
but  clothed  upon  ;  mortality  swallowed  up  of  life. 

A  soul  sheathed  in  a  crystal  shrine, 
Through  which  all  its  bright  features  shine ; 
A  soul  whose  intellectual  beams 
No  mists  do  mask,  no  lazy  steams; 
A  happy  soul,  that,  all  the  way 
To  heaven,  hath  a  summer's  day. 

The  thought  the  apostle  expresses,  "That  we  do  not 
wish  to  be  unclothed,  but  clothed  upon,"  is  a  very  impor- 
tant one.  It  is  an  essentially  Christian  idea;  it  distin- 
guishes the  Christian  view  of  morality  from  the  natural 
view.  It  characterizes  the  Christian  view  of  truth,  the 
Christian  view  of  religion,  and  the  Christian  view  of  im- 
mortality. 


NOT  UNCLOTHED,  BUT  CLOTHED  UPON.     I9I 

"Not  unclothed,  but  clothed  upon" — let  us  see  what  it 
means. 

The  Christian  view  of  all  growth  and  progress  is  by 
addition,  not  subtraction;  by  building  up,  not  pulling 
down  \  by  positive  means,  not  negative ;  by  attraction,  not 
repulsion ;  by  love  of  good,  not  fear  of  evil ;  by  hope  of 
heaven,  not  terror  of  hell ;  by  power  of  love,  not  power  of 
law  j  by  Christ  as  a  forgiving  and  saving  master,  saying, 
"  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee,  go  and  sin  no  more ; "  not 
by  punishment,  condemnation,  and  hell  fire.  Christ  came 
not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil.  The  only  damnation  Christ 
knows  is  loss  ;  that  when  light  has  come  into  the  world, 
some  men  choose  darkness,  and  so  lose  the  light. 

Most  reforms  and  inventions  come  by  improving  what 
we  have.  The  first  farmer  probably  stirred  the  ground 
with  a  sharp  stick.  After  a  while  came  a  man  who  fasten- 
ed another  to  it,  and  so  made  the  original  plough.  By  and 
by,  a  piece  of  iron  was  substituted  for  one  of  the  sticks, 
and  that  is  essentially,  the  plough  of  to-day.  The  first  men 
lived  in  caves  ;,  after  a  while  they  made  huts  of  branches 
and  bark  ;  then  of  stones,  then  log  cabins,  until  at  last  you 
reach  a  palace  on  the  Grand  Canal  of  Venice.  The  wool 
from  a  sheep's  back  was  twisted  with  the  fingers,  next  with 
a  distaff,  then  with  a  spinning-wheel,  at  last  the  same  thing 
is  done  by  the  spinning-jenny,  and  mule-spinning  by  steam. 

The  Puritans  and  Quakers  tried  to  unclothe  religion  of 
all  its  rites  and  ceremonies.  They  took  off  its  royal  robes 
of  architecture,  painting,  statuary,  music,  and  left  it  bare. 
That  was  a  mistake.  They  should  have  exchanged  the 
earthly  dress  for  a  higher  and  more  heavenly  one. 

This  is  the  Christian  principle,  and  it  applies  in  a  thou- 
sand ways. 

Here  is  a  boy  who  has  done  wrong.  He  is  a  culprit ;  he 
has  stolen,  or  he  has  committed  some  other  offence.    The 


1()2  NOT  UNCLOTHED,  BUT  CLOTHED  UPON. 

law  arrests  him  and  puts  him  in  prison.  This  the  law  must 
do ;  for  the  business  of  law  is  to  prevent  offences,  to  keep 
them  from  going  on  and  from  getting  worse.  But  the  law 
cannot  cure  the  criminal  ;  it  can  only  stop  him  in  his  evil 
course.  After  a  while,  law  opens  its  hand  again  and  lets 
the  criminal  go.  He  is  not  cured,  so  he  begins  again,  and 
falls  into  the  clutch  of  law  again,  and  is  stopped  again,  and 
let  go  again,  and  begins  again,  and  so  on,  ad  infinitum. 
That  is  all  the  law  can  do — arrest  evil,  and  check  it  for  a 
while.  It  cannot  cure  it.  It  is  merely  negative  power. 
But  to  cure  evil,  a  positive  power  is  needed.  You  must 
show  the  boy  some  good  thing  ;  you  must  attract  him  to- 
ward a  better  life ;  you  must  give  him  an  opportunity  for 
something  better.  Law  takes  off  for  a  little  while  his  old 
clothing  of  sin  j  Christianity  must  clothe  him  with  a  house 
from  heaven. 

Any  home  is  better  than  none.  If  you  cannot  get  a 
house,  take  a  cabin.  If  you  cannot  have  a  cabin,  then 
have  a  tent ;  if  not  a  wall  tent,  then  a  shelter  tent ;  but  if 
not  that,  then  find  a  tree  or  a  cave. 

Mentally,  we  do  not  wish  to  be  unclothed,  but  clothed 
upon.  Mental  progress  does  not  consist  in  losing  the  old 
knowledge,  but  in  adding  to  it  new.  The  principle  of  con- 
servatism is  a  sound  one.  Keep  your  present  faith  till  you 
can  get  a  better  one.  The  greatest  of  modern  philosophers, 
Descartes  —  the  John  the  Baptist  of  all  modern  reform  — 
emptied  his  mind  of  all  its  belief  in  order  to  begin  at  the  be- 
ginning. He  started  with  no  belief  except  in  his  own  exis- 
tence. "  I  exist,"  was  all  that  he  would  begin  with.  He 
thoroughly  unclothed  his  mind  of  alj  its  thoughts.  But  men 
not  are  made  to  live  so.  Anything  is  better  than  perpetual 
doubt.  We  have  no  mental  progress  so.  "  To  him  who  hath 
shall  be  given."  The  man  who  believes  something,  can  go 
on  and  believe  more.     A  perpetual  seeker,  with  no  past  be- 


NOT  UNCLOTHED,  BUT  CLOTHED  UPON.    1 93 

hind  him,  finds  nothing.  He  is  ever  searching,  and  never 
coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Some  things  we  must 
know  ;  we  are  made  to  know  them.  The  New  Testament 
assumes  that  we  know  them,  and  does  not  teach  them. 
Both  Old  and  New  Testament  assume  the  existence  of  God, 
duty  and  immortality.  Some  things  may  be  taken  for 
granted  in  our  belief.  They  cannot  be  proved,  and  are  not 
meant  to  be  proved.  Man  is  made  to  believe  them,  and 
cannot  help  himself.  We  must  believe  in  our  own  existence  ; 
in  the  existence  of  an  outer  world  ;  of  day  and  night ; 
men  and  women  ;  space  and  time  ;  cause  and  effect ;  the 
infinite  and  the  finite  ;  right  and  wrong :  God  and  nature  ; 
duty  and  immortality.  As  a  good  father  does  not  send  his 
child  out  into  the  world  naked,  but  gives  him  a  trunk  of 
clothes,  a  chest  of  tools,  a  little  money  to  begin  with,  so 
God  furnishes  us  with  a  mental  outfit  of  common  and  uni- 
versal beliefs  to  begin  with.  We  are  not  to  be  uuclothed 
of  them,  either  in  this  world  or  in  the  next,  but  clothed 
upon  with  more. 

All  negation  is  going  backward.  It  may  be  necessary 
to  go  back  and  to  begin  again,  when  we  are  going  wrong. 
So  negative  reforms,  and  negative  moralities,  are  going 
backward  in  order  to  begin  again.  All  the  "  antis  "  go 
backward  ;  even  anti-slavery.  Society  organized  on  slavery 
was  badly  and  wickedly  organized,  but  it  was  organized. 
The  abolition  of  slavery  disorganized  society,  and  if  we 
had  stopped  there,  we  should  have  only  taken  a  backward 
step,  not  a  forward  one.  Free  labor,  therefore,  had  to  be 
organized  instead  of  slave  labor  j  and  because  the  Southern 
States  refused  to  accept  free  labor  and  organize  it,  it  had  to 
be  done  for  them  by  the  general  government.  Failing  this 
society  at  the  South  would  have  remained  "  unclothed,  not 
clothed  upon." 

That  is  the  justification  for  the  course  taken  by  the  North 
13 


194    N0T  UNCLOTHED,  BUT  CLOTHED  UPON. 

in  giving  the  ballot  to  the  negroes,  and  in  attempting  to 
aid  the  South  in  its  re-organization.  It  is  also  its  excuse, 
though  not  its  justification,  for  having  gone  too  far  and 
interfered  too  much.  The  new  body  should  be  left  to  itself, 
to  grow  ;  we  must  not  be 'forever  interfering  with  it.  It  is 
clothed  upon  with  a  new  house,  which,  compared  with  the 
old  one,  is  like  a  house  from  heaven.  Let  it  not  be 
perpetually  unclothed,  but  learn  to  wear  and  use  its  new 
raiment.  It  has  been  unclothed  from  slavery ;  let  it  be 
clothed  upon  and  with  freedom  —  freedom  both  for  whites 
and  colored  people. 

Look  at  Nature  in  this  affluent  season  of  Spring,  when 
the  voice  of  God  is  saying,  "  Let  there  be  life."  See  how 
Nature  swallows  up  the  old  in  the  new ;  see  how  she  ab- 
sorbs the  old  vegetation  in  the  coming  grasses  ;  how  earth, 
bare  and  dead,  is  clothed  upon  with  new  and  wonderful 
forms  of  growth.  Little  seeds  in  the  earth  have  heard 
God's  voice,  and  begin  to  stir  inwardly.  Little  buds  have 
heard  it,  and  begin  to  swell.  These  million  germs  of  life 
are  to  sweep  away  and  clear  up  the  vestiges  of  decay.  Dead 
leaves  and  grasses  are  to  feel  the  new  summer.  Presently, 
in  a  few  weeks,  the  whole  surface  of  earth  will  be  carpeted 
with  grass  andilowers;  the  trees  clothed  with  delicate, 
fairy  foliage,  with  fragrant,  lovely  blossoms  ;  mortality 
swallowed  up  of  life ;  a  resurrection  of  dead  Nature  into 
a  new  existence. 

The  affections  are  a  clothing  and  a  home  for  the  heart. 
God's  method  is  to  give  us  always  better  and  higher  affec- 
tions, and  to  made  the  lower  a  step  upward  to  the  higher. 
"  He  who  loves  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  how 
shall  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen  ?  "  All  human 
love  leads  up  to  divine  love.  It  is  a  Jacob's  ladder,  lead- 
ing up  to  heaven.  Everything  which  draws  man  out  of 
himself  does  him  good.     The  smallest  act  of  sympathy 


NOT  UNCLOTHED,  BUT  CLOTHED  UPON.    I95 

helps  us.  To  say  a  kind  word  does  him  good  who  receives 
it  and  him  who  gives  it.  I  see  two  little  girls  walking  hand 
in  hand.  They  are  playmates.  They  play  together,  they 
study  together,  they  quarrel  sometimes  ;  but  they  are  little 
friends.  That  is  the  first  round  of  the  ladder  of  love,  the 
highest  step  of  which  is  the  divine  piety  of  Jesus  towards 
his  Heavenly  Father. 

I  see  two  young  men,  fellow-students,  seekers  of  the 
truth  together.  They  struggle  through  the  same  doubts, 
they  have  the  same  bitter  experience  of  evil ;  they  may 
commit  mistakes  together  ;  but  amid  all  errors  and  wander- 
ings there  is  this  golden  thread  of  a  generous,  unselfish 
friendship  for  each  other.  That  is  good.  Let  them  never 
be  unclothed  from  that  love,  but  clothed  upon  with  a  higher 
one. 

Much  of  earthly  affection  is,  no  doubt,  poor,  weak,  un- 
worthy. It  is  idol  worship  ;  it  is  a  blind  and  foolish  affec- 
tion ;  it  is  also  weak  and  changeable.  But  such  as  it  is,  it 
is  always  better  than  nothing.     Do  not  destroy  it ;  fulfil  it. 

I  would  be  very  tender  of  any  idolatry.  I  often  find 
people  adoring  very  enthusiastically  books,  or  artists,  or 
people,  who  to  me  seem  poor  and  empty.  But  I  am  very 
careful  not  rudely  to  criticize  their  faith  They  think  some 
poetaster  to  be  a  great  poet.  Be  it  so.  I  will  not  say  a 
word  against  it.  They  are  groping  after  pearls.  They 
think  a  man  a  great  orator,  and  burn  with  enthusiasm  for 
him,  while  to  me  he  appears  only  a  rhetorician,  a  man  of 
words.  Nevertheless,  I  say  nothing  harsh  against  their 
idol.  They  admire  a  preacher,  who  to  me  seems  talking 
verbiage  and  commonplaces.  Well,  who  knows  what  real 
religion  may  come  to  them  through  this  channel  ?  We  have 
this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels.  I  will  not  be  an  iconoclast, 
except  when  absolutely  necessary.  If  truth  requires  me 
to  blow  a  jarring  and  dissonant  blast,  I  will  do  it,  but   not 


10     NOT  UNCLOTHED,  BUT  CLOTHED  UPON. 

otherwise.  Idolatry,  in  the  divine  order,  may  be  the  first 
step  to  true  religion.  Let  it  not  be  unclothed,  but  clothed 
upon. 

All  love,  so  far  as  it  is  love,  is  good  ;  and  it  is  good  in 
this  way,  that  it  takes  us  out  of  ourselves,  making  us  for 
the  time  unselfish,  and  also,  that  it  makes  us  for  the  time 
truly  pure.  Those  who  love  are  emancipated  from  doubts, 
hesitations,  terrors.  Perfect  love  casts  out  fear.  Two 
friends  who  are  together  —  two  school  girls,  perhaps  — 
how  they  talk  !  how  they  flow  out,  how  they  say  all  that  is 
in  their  heart !  That  does  them  good,  and  prepares  for 
something  better.  With  your  friends  you  feel  at  home.  You 
dread  no  misconstruction,  no  censure.  You  do  not  have 
to  stop  to  explain,  to  define  your  position,  to  guard  against 
misconstruction.  There  is  no  envy,  no  jealousy,  in  that 
relation.  I  do  not  think  (as  Cicero  says)  life  worth  living, 
that  does  not  contain  such  a  friendship.  Every  one  needs 
to  be  able  to  be  with  those,  sometimes,  to  whom  he  can 
speak  of  anything  he  chooses,  without  any  doubt  or  anxiety 
or  hesitation.  Then  he  is  at  home.  That  is  home,  the 
home  of  the  heart. 

So  God  educates  us  for  himself ;  teaches  us  how  to  love 
him,  by  teaching  us  first  how  to  love  our  brother.  All  true 
love  educates  us  for  heaven.  The  love  of  nature  is  a  nas- 
cent piety.  The  delight  in  God's  sky  and  land,  his  ocean 
and  mountains,  his  stars  and  flowers,  his  sunrises  and  sun- 
sets, educates  us  to  love  him,  the  giver  of  it  all.  He  sends 
us  little  children  to  teach  our  hearts  tenderness  ;  he  takes 
them  up  to  himself,  and  our  tenderness  goes  up  to  heaven. 
The  love  for  heaven,  for  books,  for  children,  for  friends, 
leads  us  towards  God.  Every  patient  watching  by  the  bed- 
side of  those  we  love  teaches  the  heart  something.  Every 
tear  dropped  on  a  friend's  grave  is  another  step  towards 
heaven.     Every  generous  effort  to  do  right,  every  noble 


NOT    UNCLOTHED,    BUT    CLOTHED    UPON.  I97 

struggle  against  evil,  every  warm  throb  of  love  for  what  is 
good,  true,  fair ;  every  patriotic  and  courageous  act  of  de- 
votion to  our  country,  is  clothing  us  with  a  Ijojuse  from 
heaven. 

These  may,  indeed,  be  only  tents  to  live  in  till  we  reach 
the  promised  land  ;  but  we  know  that  when  these  are  struck 
and  folded,  we  have  a  building  of  God  waiting  us  beyond 
the  veil  of  time.  God,  who  provides  the  tent  for  us  here, 
will  provide  the  house  there.  He  who  gives  us  in  this  life 
the  wonders  and  beauties  of  nature,  the  lessons  of  truth, 
the  opportunities  of  action  and  endeavor,  the  helps  of 
friendship,  the  charm  of  love,  the  nobleness  of  life  and  the 
pathos  of  death,  will  provide  for  us  better  things  beyond, 
"  which  eye  has  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard." 

Therefore,  O  human  heart !  trust  and  hope  and  look  for- 
ward, and  do  not  doubt  nor  fear,  but  go  from  truth  to  truth, 
from  love  to  higher  love.  We  do  not  wish  to  be  unclothed 
of  this  world's  affections  and  interests,  but  clothed  upon 
with  higher.  This  life  is  not  the  end,  but  the  beginning. 
This  poor  body  of  ours,  poor,  but  yet  wonderful  in  its  mys- 
terious faculties,  is  the  germ  of  a  higher  body.  The  friend 
who  has  left  us,  the  dear  child,  sister,  brother,  father,  mo- 
ther, we  shall  meet  again  ;  and  that  divine  grace  which 
charmed  our  heart  shall  smile  on  us  when  we  enter  heaven, 
with  a  more  profound  and  angelic  beauty.  The  radi- 
ance which  flowed  from  those  eyes  shall  be  more  radiant. 
The  inspiration  which  dwelt  on  that  brow  shall  be  more  in- 
spired. Yet  that  sublime  and  heavenly  love  shall  be  as 
tender  and  near  as  in  this  world  ;  a  home  for  our  heart,  as 
it  was  below. 


XIX. 

ALL  THINGS  FOR  GOOD. 

THERE  is  a  strange,  tender  beauty  in  this  month  of 
October,  which  we  all  must  have  felt.  Some  days 
during  the  last  week  the  air  has  been  singularly  pure  and 
full  of  health  ;  no  mountain  air,  no  Italian  air,  could  be 
sweeter  or  purer.  The  woods  and  hills  have  put  on 
their  autumn  dress  of  beauty  and  pride.  The  declining 
year  has  robed  itself  in  majesty  before  bidding  us  farewell. 
These  days  are  something  to  recollect  when  winter  comes. 
Sometimes  at  this  season  of  the  year,  I  have  gone  to  the 
top  of  the  hills  in  this  neighborhood,  from  which  wide 
views  can  be  had  —  such  views  as  I  think  are  hardly  to  be 
found  anywhere  but  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston.  Thence  I 
saw  the  panorama  of  villages  stretching  around  the  hori- 
zon —  fifty  spires  of  churches,  towns  resting  in  peaceful 
repose.  Away  in  the  west  was  Wachusett,  rising  in  a  long, 
sweeping  curve  of  blue,  which  reminds  us  of  Byron's  de- 
scription of  Mount  Soracte,  which 

"  Sweeps  like  a  long,  spent  wave  from  out  the  plain, 
And  on  the  curve  hangs  pausing." 

And  away  to  the  south-east  are  our  old  friends  the  Blue 
Hills,  of  which  we  never  tire,  since  they  are  the  only  ap- 
proach to  mountain  scenery  which  we  have  near  our  city  ; 
and  to  the  east  the  glitter  of  ocean,  stretched  away  blue 
and  pale  into  the  far  distance ;  and  then,  nearer  by,  the 
(•98) 


ALL   THINGS   FOR   GOOD.  1 99 

woods  aglow  with  scarlet  and  crimson,  as  if  some  great  cer- 
emony were  at  hand,  and  they  had  all  come  forth  to  greet  a 
hero  or  mighty  chief  in  their  most  gorgeous  attire.  And  I 
thought,  "  O  beautiful  world  !  World  most  full  of  beauty, 
which  God  has  given  us,  why  do  we  not  enjoy  thee  more  ? 
Why  are  we  so  restless  and  discontented  and  unhappy,  at 
war  with  ourselves,  with  those  around  us,  even  at  war  with 
Providence,  when  it  seems  as  if  we  had  only  to  open  our 
hearts  to  all  this  infinite  tide  of  God's  love  and  be  hap- 
py?" 

I  will  take  for  my  text  this  passage  : 

"  All  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God." 

I  have  sometimes  been  told  that  I  am  too  much  of  an  Op- 
timist —  that  I  am  too  hopeful,  see  things  too  much  on  the 
bright  side,  do  not  recognize  enough  the  evils,  failures, 
moral  disasters,  spiritual  tragedies,  of  human  life.  It  may 
be  true  that  my  temperament  is  sanguine,  and  that  in  read- 
ing the  gospel  I  love  to  dwell  more  on  its  hopes  and  promises 
than  on  its  threats  and  warnings.  But  let  us  consider 
this  a  little,  and  ask  what  is  Optimism  and  what  is  Pessim- 
ism, and  which  is  the  truest  and  wisest  view  of  life  —  that 
which  hopes,  or  that  which  desponds  ? 

Certainly,  if  we  believe  in  a  God  of  infinite  perfection,  a 
God  who  loves  all  his  creatures  with  an  infinite  love,  of 
whom  the  sun  shining  alike  on  good  and  evil  is  the  symbol, 
who  desires  that  no  one  should  perish  ;  who  is  infinite  wis- 
dom, knowing  how  to  make  his  creatures  happy  in  the 
right  way  ;  and  infinite  power,  to  carry  out  all  his  plans  in 
gard  to  them  ;  a  God  who  is  love,  and  who  is  above  all 
through  all  and  in  all  things  ;  if  we  have  this  faith  we  must 
believe  that  evil  is  transient  and  good  permanent ;  that  evil 
is  a  means  and  good  the  end ;  that  the  final  results  to  each 
and  all  of  God's  creatures  must  be  good  and  increasing 
good. 


200  ALL  THINGS  FOR  GOOD. 

Christ  was  surely  an  Optimist  in  this  sense.  He  sure- 
ly believed  the  world  was  made  and  meant  for  good 
and  not  for  evil.  God,  to  him,  was  the  universal  Father, 
whosi  providence  was  over  all  his  creatures,  and  who  num- 
bered every  hair  of  every  head.  When  has  Optimism  been 
put  in  plainer  words  than  in  the  very  first  utterances  of 
Jesus  in  his  sermon  on  the  Mount,  when  he  declares  that  for 
all  sorrow,  poverty  and  hunger  of  soul,  for  all  those  in  the 
midst  of  frightful  persecution  and  tribulation,  there  is  to  be 
a  profound  blessedness,  a  divine  comfort,  a  heavenly  re- 
pose, a  joy  passing  all  understanding  ;  that  no  matter 
what  burdens  men  have  to  bear,  if  they  come  to  him,  they 
can  have  rest. 

And  certainly  the  power  of  Christianity  is  in  this  Optim- 
ism. It  helps  the  world,  and  gives  to  the  world  new  cour- 
age and  new  life  by  inspiring  hope.  It  comes  to  bring 
hope  to  all  persons,  at  all  times,  in  all  situations.  And 
by  inspiring  this  hope  it  has  made  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth. 

Now  there  is  a  false  Optimism,  I  know,  which  shuts  its 
eyes  to  the  existence  of  present  evil,  turns  from  it,  dislikes 
to  see  it,  refuses  to  admit  its  reality.  But  Jesus  does  not 
make  light  of  evil.  He  saw  more  clearly  than  any  one 
else  the  evil  there  is  in  the  world.  He  never  deceived 
himself  nor  deluded  others  with  false  hopes.  He  told  his 
disciples  what  terrible  dangers  they  would  encounter,  what 
sufferings  be  compelled  to  endure  ;  how,  before  his  king- 
dom of  truth  and  love  could  come,  there  must  be  wars  and 
famine  and  pestilence  and  murder  ;  how  that  his  coming 
would  set  men  at  war  with  each  other,  and  cause  the  fa- 
ther to  hate  the  child  and  the  child  the  father.  He  told  them 
that,  though  they  all  thought  they  lored  him,  one  would 
betray  him,  and  one  deny  him,  and  all  forsake  him.  But 
he  saw  ultimate  success,  the  perfect  triumph  of  truth,  and 


ALL  THINGS  FOR  GOOD.  201 

a  reign  of  peace  beyond  all  this,  and  that  he  should  ulti- 
mately draw  all  men  unto  him. 

True  Optimism,  then,  does  not  deny  the  reality  of  present 
evil,  but  declares  that  it  is  to  become  the  means  of  future 
good.  But  even  thus  limited  it  is  not  easy  to  accept  it. 
"  Why  is  it,"  we  ask,  "  when  nature  around  us  is  so  lovely 
and  so  full  of  peace,  that  the  human  heart  should  be  so 
weighed  down  with  anxiety,  sorrow  and  sin  ?  Why  cannot 
we  enjoy  this  beautiful  world  which  God  has  given  us  ?  " 

Coleridge  answered  this  question  when  he  said, 

"  We  receive  but  what  we  give  ; 
And  in  our  life  alone  does  nature  live." 

All  depends  on  the  attitude  of  our  own  mind  and  heart. 
Nothing  can  make  us  happy  unless  we  have  the  secret  of 
happiness  within.  Nothing  can  make  us  unhappy  if  we 
have  that  secret  within.  "  All  things  work  together  for 
good  to  those  who  love  God."  Nothing  works  for  good  to 
those  who  do  not  love  him. 

It  is  what  we  carry  with  us  and  in  us  which  determines 
what  comes  to  us  from  without.  It  is  so  with  knowledge. 
What  a  multitude  of  things  are  to  be  seen  all  around  us, 
wherever  we  go,  and  how  few  of  them  we  see  !  Some  one 
says,  "  We  do  not  see  what  is  before  our  eyes,  but  what  is 
behind  them."  Two  men  are  travelling.  They  pass 
through  the  woods.  One  of  them  sees  only  limbs  and 
branches  and  green  leaves.  The  other  sees  all  the  new 
varieties  of  vegetation  which  belongs  to  the  region,  dis- 
tinguishes plant  from  plant,  discovers  rare  specimens. 
One  man  sees  pictures  in  the  landscape,  sees  the  fore- 
ground and  middle  distance,  sees  the  lights  and  shades. 
He  is  an  artist ;  that  is  why  he  sees  them.  In  every  land- 
scape we  look  at  there  is  infinite  knowledge  quietly  wait- 
ing till  we  are  ready  to  observe.     Picturesque  effects  for 


202  ALL  THINGS  FOR  GOOD. 

the  artist,  strange  plants  for  the  botanist,  stratification  and 
a  whole  world-history  for  the  geologist,  soils  for  the  farmer, 
and,  hidden  away  in  it  all,  the  love  of  God  and  a  Father's 
smile  for  the  loving  heart  of  the  Christian.  "  All  things 
work  together  for  knowledge  for  those  who  love  knowledge." 

We  receive  what  we  give  :  we  find  what  we  seek.  Things 
come  to  those  who  are  prepared  for  them.  Every  one 
carries  with  him  a  polar  force  to  attract  or  repel.  To  him 
who  has  an  inventive  faculty,  inventions  come.  To  him 
who  has  a  poetical  faculty,  poetry  comes.  Events  wait  on 
man  as  his  servants,  and  things  befall  him  according  to  the 
quantity  and  quality  of  his  character. 

According  to  this  law,  all  things  work  together  for  good 
to  those  who  love  God.  Those  who  love  God ! —  that  is, 
those  whose  hearts  long  for  that  infinite  good,  beauty  and 
truth  which  shall  raise  them  above  themselves,  and  purify 
them  from  evil,  conquer  their  sins,  make  them  true,  gener- 
ous and  noble.  Those  who  love  God  thus,  not  with  a  self- 
ish love  disguised  as  piety,  not  merely  wishing  to  escape 
from  hell  and  get  to  heaven,  but  wishing  to  be  the  true  ser- 
vants and  helpers  of  what  is  good  in  this  world,  will  find 
all  things  working  together  for  their  good.  Everything 
will  make  part  of  their  education  ;  everything  will  give 
them  new  opportunity ;  everything  will  help  them  ;  as 
sunshine  or  storm,  summer  or  winter,  helps  the  tree.  When 
the  sun  shines  warmly,  the  tree  opens  all  its  buds  and 
leaves,  and  drinks  in  the  warm  air,  and  grows.  When  the 
cold  storms  of  winter  beat  upon  it,  it  withdraws  into  itself, 
and  shuts  its  pores,  and  tightens  its  hold  \>y  the  roots,  and 
hardens.  So  when  all  things  are  pleasant  in  life,  we  enjoy 
them  gratefully,  and  expand  in  God's  sunshine  with  thank- 
ful hearts.  When  disappointment  and  trial  come,  we  learn 
to  be  patient,  trusting,  submissive,  hopeful,  firm  and  true, 
and  that  is  good  for  us  also. 


ALL  THINGS  FOR  GOOD.  203 

To  those  who  love  God,  friendship  and  love  come  as 
blessed  gifts  to  open  the  heart  and  teach  it  all  tender 
affections.  Human  love  becomes  divine  love  when  thus 
received.  The  parents  receive  their  child  as  from  God, 
and  they  see  in  him  a  promise  of  God  for  the  future,  as 
well  as  a  joy  in  the  present.  The  family  becomes  a  sacred 
place  ;  the  parlor  is  a  church,  the  daily  meal  is  a  com- 
munion table  to  those  who  love  God.  God's  love  comes 
out  of  human  eyes  to  bless  us,  and  an  ineffable  tenderness 
speaks  to  us  in  each  word  and  act  and  look  of  good  will. 
We  find  a  deeper  meaning  and  a  higher  purpose  in  every 
friendship,  because  God  has  sent  it  to  us ;  and  we  cease 
to  fear  that  it  will  prove  transient,  because  we  know  that 
what  God  gives  he  gives  forever. 

When,  in  his  providence,  God  takes  away  our  friends 
and  leaves  us  alone,  then,  also,  we  find  that  this  bereave- 
ment works  for  our  good  if  we  love  God.  We  are  alone, 
but  not  lonely.  Our  friends  come  to  us  when  they  go 
away.  They  stay  with  us  when  they  ascend  to  heaven. 
The  love  which  was  no  mere  earthly  tie  of  convenience  or 
pleasure,  which  loved  what  was  best  in  the  friend,  and 
sought  to  impart  good,  as  well  as  to  receive  it,  does  not 
die  —  it  lives.  As  the  disciples,  after  Jesus  left  them,  grew 
much  more  intimate  with  him,  and  understood  him  far 
better  than  before,  and  had  him  really  nearer  to  them  than 
when  they  saw  him ;  so  our  friends  who  have  gone  away 
often  seem  nearer,  and  they  bless  us  by  lifting  our  hearts 
to  the  heavens  which  are  their  home,  and  we  commune 
with  their  interior  nature  as  we  never  did  while  we  had 
them  nearer  to  us. 

So,  also,  errors  and  mistakes  work  for  good  to  those  who 
love  God.  I  once  lost  my  way  in  Venice,  which  is  the 
most  intricate  of  all  cities  when  you  try  to  walk  through  it 
by  the  narrow  streets,  though  it  is  the  simplest  of  all  when 


204  ALL  THINGS  FOR  GOOD. 

you  go  from  place  to  place  in  a  gondola.  But  I  spent 
hour  after  hour  wandering  to  and  fro,  too  proud  to  ask  my 
way,  till  at  last  pride  had  a  fall,  and  I  was  obliged  to  give 
a  little  fellow  some  baiocchi  to  show  me  the  way  to  San 
Marco.  But  I  recollect  how,  in  that  walk,  I  saw  many 
things  which  I  should  never  have  noticed  except  I  had  lost 
myself.  The  faculties  wake  up  and  are  full  of  alertness  in 
difficulty,  and  we  find  ourselves  in  strange  relations,  and 
learn  fast.  So  the  man  lost  in  the  woods  becomes  ac- 
quainted with  the  looks  and  habits  of  the  trees  and  birds 
and  living  creatures.  And  so,  when  we  are  lost  in  the 
great  maze  of  life,  and  wander  through  the  streets  of  this 
world,  feeling  that  the  familiar  path  is  gone :  when  we  see 
no  landmark  of  duty,  no  inspiring  light  of  attractive  work, 
and  know  not  where  we  are  ;  then,  if  our  trust  in  God  does 
not  fail  us,  we  learn  lessons  we  should  never  otherwise 
gain.  We  learn  self-direction  or  humility ;  we  learn  to 
cast  our  care  on  him  who  cares  for  us  ;  we  learn  to  be 
grateful  for  every  kindness  that  others  can  do  us,  and  to 
respect  all  forms  of  human  life,  and  call  no  man  common. 

I  sometimes  think  that  a  nation,  like  individuals,  has  a 
sou/,  and  that  this  soul  is  either  turned  in  the  main  to  good 
or  to  evil.  The  soul  of  a  nation  is  either  a  worldly  soul, 
absorbed  in  selfish  pleasure  and  gain,  or  it  is  a  generous 
soul,  which  cares  for  the  great  interests  of  justice  and 
humanity.  Nations,  like  individuals,  are  put  on  trial. 
Some  do  not  bear  the  trial,  and  they  come  to  an  end. 

Shakspeare  wrote  "  A  Comedy  of  Errors,"  but  there  are 
tragedies  of  errors  in  the  world,  perhaps  more  common. 
People  make  mistakes  which  seem  irreparable.  Take  one 
step  in  the  wrong  direction,  and  return  sometimes  becomes 
hopeless.  We  are  dragged  along  by  the  chain  of  destiny. 
In  the  novel  of  <4  Deronda,"  we  see  how  a  single  misstep 
taken  by  the  young  girl,  Gwendolen,  destroys  her  whole 


ALL  THINGS  FOR  GOOD.  205 

life.  The  same  things  happen  around  us  here.  But  the 
novelist  shows  that,  while  her  outward  life  and  happiness 
were  ruined,  she  began  to  grow  inwardly  into  something  far 
nobler  than  prosperity  could  have  given.  She  learned  peni- 
tence and  generosity,  she  learned  to  know  herself,  she 
became  capable  of  making  sacrifices.  And  this  also  we 
see  in  daily  reality.  This  also  happens  here.  Men  and 
women  can  be  educated  by  wrong  and  sin  into  something 
admirably  good  ;  as  the  lava  fires  of  geologic  periods  have 
metamorphosed  dull  clay  into  adamantine  gems.  All  this 
if  they  love  God — that  is,  if  their  main  purpose  in  life  is 
good  and  right. 

We  can  often  see,  ourselves,  how  evils  work  together  for 
good.  As  we  look  back  over  our  lives,  we  see  how  disap- 
pointments, which  seemed  at  the  time  most  bitter  and 
intolerable,  turned  out  at  last  to  be  the  best  things  we  could 
have  had.  And  so  we  may  believe  that  when  we  cannot 
see  the  good,  good  may  yet  be  there.  The  child  cannot 
see  the  good  of  his  having  to  go  to  school  and  study  when 
he  wishes  to  play.  He  cannot  look  forward  ten  and  twenty 
years,  and  see  how  his  present  studies  are  to  help  him. 
And,  if  we  are  immortal  beings,  our  present  trials  and  dis- 
appointments are  perhaps  a  part  of  the  discipline  we  need 
for  some  great  result  preparing  for  us  hereafter.  Whether 
we  feel  this,  or  not,  depends  on  whether  we  love  God,  and 
believe  really  in  him.  If  God  is  our  father,  then  it  must 
be  right,  whether  we  see  it  or  not. 

All  as  God  wills,  who  wisely  heeds 

To  give,  or  to  withhold, 
And  knoweth  more  of  all  my  needs 

Than  all  my  prayers  have  told. 

The  most  terrible  tragedies  of  life  are  not  usually  those 
which  appear,  but  those  which  are  hidden.  Under  the 
smooth  and  smiling  surface  of  social  life  what  dark,  myste- 


206  ALL  THINGS  FOR  GOOD. 

ries  of  sorrow  are  concealed  !     The  heart  knows  its  own 
bitterness,  and  does  not  talk  about  it. 

I  once  had  a  friend  whose  mind  was  well  balanced  ; 
taking  its  steps  slowly  but  surely,  and  it  ever  looked 
at  the  highest  as  well  as  the  broadest  and  deepest 
truth.  One  always  felt,  when  she  had  added  her  few 
well:considered  words  to  the  discussion,  that  no  more 
need  be  said.  There  was  a  judicial  equipoise  in  her 
statement;,  as  when  the  judge  delivers  his  charge  at  the 
close  of  a  well-argued  case.  She  aimed  only  at  perfect 
justice  and  exact  truth.  She  never  said  much,  but  what  she 
said  lifted  us  out  of  all  narrow  limitations  into  the  serene 
atmosphere  of  impartial,  unsectarian,  unprejudiced  and 
crystalline  truth.  This  all  saw  j  but  what  many  did  not  see 
was,  that  her  whole  life  was  centred  in  aspiration  for  the 
highest  possible  religious  state.  During  the  thirty  years 
that  I  knew  her,  her  mind  had  but  one  purpose,  to  which 
it  clung  with  unexampled  tenacity,  the  purpose  of  rising 
into  the  highest  religious  state.  Her  continual  longing  was 
to  become  perfect  in  love  to  God,  and  love  to  man.  This 
purpose  so  completely  dominated  and  controlled  all  her 
mind,  that  she  only  gave  the  outside  of  her  thoughts  to 
other  things.  No  Catholic  saint,  living  in  a  perpetual  round 
of  devotion,  ever  led  a  life  more  fixed  on  the  one  thing 
needful.  No  one  ever  more  entirely  fulfilled  the  apostolic 
command,  "to  pray  without  ceasing."  For,  this  great  state 
of  perfect  love  she  did  not  expect  to  attain  by  any  effort  of 
her  own,  but  only  to  receive  it  as  a  gift  of  God.  Therefore 
her  life  was  a  perpetual  prayer.  All  outward  things,  the 
world  and  its  ways,  the  doings  of  men  and  women,  politics, 
business,  daily  duty,  grew  pale,  dim,  and  unsubstantial,  while 
she  looked  ever  at  things  which  are  unseen,  but  eternal. 
She  never  neglected  willingly  a  single  outward  duty,  but 
she  did  it  with  her  hand  rather  than  with  her  mind.     Ab- 


ALL  THINGS  FOR  GOOD.  207 

sorbed  in  the  contemplation  of  the  grace  of  God,  which 
brings  salvation,  she  did  all  her  outward  work  with  a  some- 
what mechanical  fidelity,  not  putting  into  it  all  her  heart. 

During  many  years  she  lived  in  perfect  mental  solitude, 
except  that  usually  once  a  week  she  wrote  a  letter,  which 
was  a  resume  of  her  inward  state,  her  spiritual  hopes  and 
disappointments,  an  analysis  of  her  soul's  history.  This 
was  the  only  sufficient  outlet  she  had  during  twenty  or 
thirty  years  j  the  only  relief  from  her  perpetual  introspec- 
tion No  doubt  it  was  bad  for  her,  this  continual  analysis 
of  her  own  state  of  mind.  It  helped  a  malady  of  which 
neither  she  nor  others  for  a  long  time  suspected  the  exist- 
ence —  which  showed  itself  by  an  occasional  access  of  ter- 
rible depression  and  gloom.  But  her  mind  was  in  such  just 
equipoise,  so  sensible,  so  clear,  at  other  times,  that  this 
temporary  darkening  of  her  soul  was  attributed  by  her  to 
moral  causes  only.  She  thought  it  a  trial  sent  by  God, 
which  he  would  take  away,  and  replace  by  a  perfect  peace. 
But  from  time  to  time  the  darkness  and  suffering  were  so 
intense  that  she  was  driven  to  thoughts  of  suicide.  But  as 
this  depression  would  pass  entirely  away,  and  not  return 
for  long  periods,  she  did  not  understand  it  to  be  occasioned 
by  cerebral  disease. 

But  no  one  could  know  what  heroism  she  showed  during 
all  these  years  in  her  lonely  struggle  against  these  tenden- 
cies to  despair.  She  fought  a  long  fight,  and  fought  it 
alone,  praying  to  God  for  strength  and  receiving  it.  Do 
not  say  that  all  these  prayers  and  efforts  were  for  nothing. 
While  the  outward  man  perished,  the  inward  man  was  re- 
newed day  by  day,  I  cannot  believe  that  such  patient  con- 
tinuance in  well-doing,  through  long  and  weary  years,  such 
perpetual  aspiration,  this  ceaseless  prayer  for  life  and 
strength,  were  to  be  all  in  vain.  No  holy  saint,  no  conse- 
crated martyr,  ever  lived  a  more  devoted  life.     She  died, 


208  ALL  THINGS  FOR  GOOD. 

at  last,  overcome  by  this  disease  of  the  brain,  which  she 
had  so  long  struggled  to  bear. 

If  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God,  then  even  her  mistakes,  and  all  this  suffering  of  hers, 
must  work  together  for  good,  for  there  is  no  doubt  that  she 
loved  God.  Goodness,  supreme  and  perfect  goodness,  was 
all  that  she  did  love.  All  her  other  loves  were  fed  from  this 
fountain.  She  loved  her  own,  and  loved  them  to  the  end, 
but  always  in  the  highest  way,  and  for  their  best  good. 

This  story  is  another  warning  against  the  dangers  of 
too  introspective  a  life.  It  is  true  that  the  most  of  us 
are  not  in  ?.ny  danger  of  this ;  we  live  too  much  in  the 
world,  not  too  little ;  we  look  inwardly  too  little,  not  too 
much.  And  yet  there  are  a  great  many  people  who  do 
not  put  themselves  heartily  into  their  work  ;  who  do  their 
daily  duties  mechanically ;  who  are  inwardly  thinking 
about  something  else,  and  so  leading  a  double  life,  which 
is  not  healthy,  and  which  tends  at  last  to  despondency  and 
disease.  Let  us  remember  that  we  are  here  each  day  to 
do  each  day's  duties  with  our  whole  mind,  heart,  soul  and 
strength.  Let  us  live  in  the  whole,  not  in  the  half. 
Then,  when  we  go  inward  to  reflect,  we  put  ourselves 
wholly  in  that,  and  find  God's  love  and  truth  within 
the  soul ;  and  when  we  go  outward  to  work,  or  to  social 
intercourse,  we  put  ourselves  wholly  in  that,  and  find  God's 
presence  and  inspiration  also  there.  So  the  inward  world 
and  the  outward  world  may  be  equally  filled  and  animated 
with  the  presence  and  the  smile  of  our  heavenly  Father. 


XX. 

MAKING  ALL  THINGS  NEW. 
"And  he  that  sat  upon  the  throne  said,  Behold!    I  make 

ALL  THINGS    NEW." 

THE  love  of  new  things  is  natural  to  man,  but  the  love 
of  old  things  is  equally  natural.  How  to  recon- 
cile these  two  instincts  without  doing  wrong  to  either  is  a 
perpetual  problem,  both  for  the  individual  and  for  society. 
In  society  it  is  usually  solved,  in  a  somewhat  rude  way,  by 
the  antagonism  of  reformers  and  conservatives  —  reformers 
pulling  one  way,  conservatives  pulling  another  way,  and 
society  taking  the  diagonal  between  these  two  forces.  When 
radicals  request  us  to  give  up  the  past,  and  conservatives 
ask  us  not  to  move  a  single  step  towards  the  future,  the 
common  sense  of  mankind  takes  a  middle  course,  holding 
on  to  what  is  good  which  they  already  have,  but  looking 
to  see  if  there  may  not  be  something  better  to  come. 

But  to  reconcile  these  two  tendencies  in  the  individual  is 
not  so  easy.     Still  I  think  it  may  be  done. 

The  love  of  what  is  new  takes  three  principal  forms. 

First  there  are  tl^ose  who  are  always  looking  for  something 
new.  This  is  its  lowest  form.  It  is  a  perpetual  demand 
for  novelty,  for  new  things  simply  as  new.  Those  who  are 
possessed  by  this  passion  feed  on  the  stimulus  of  perpetual 
variety.  They  tire  of  everything  directly,  and  demand  a 
change.  They  wish  for  something  different  from  what  they 
have.     They  cannot  keep  to  any  one  thing  long  enough  to 

14  -$209/ 


■-  4M  a.  Jt 


2IO  MAKING    ALL    THINGS    NLW. 

understand  it,  to  appreciate  it,  or  to  enjoy  it.  They  can 
read  nothing  but  newspapers,  and  what  they  read  in  the 
morning's  paper  they  forget  before  they  get  the  journal  of 
the  evening.  In  such  a  mind  thought  is  disorganized,  and 
becomes  a  heap  of  sand.  Interest  in  life  fades  away,  for 
the  heart  is  anchored  to  nothing.  The  soul  drifts  before 
every  wind  of  accident.  The  power  of  attention  is  lost ; 
many  things  are  taken  in,  nothing  retained.  The  type  of 
this  character  was  the  Athenian  public  in  the  first  century; 
so  degenerate  from  the  genius  of  their  ancestors  that  they 
could  fix  their  minds  permanently  on  nothing.  They  were 
always  asking  for  something  new  j  and  when  the  newest 
thing  in  human  history  was  sent  to  them,  in  the  Apostle 
Paul  and  his  gospel,  they  had  not  force  of  mind  to  take  it 
in,  but  asked  for  something  newer  still.  Originality  of 
thought  had  ended  in  dissipation  of  thought.  This  is  the 
danger  of  intellectual  activity  when  not  ballasted  by  moral 
activity.  Perpetual  inquiry  needs  to  be  directed  towards 
an  end  ;  study  should  be  study  in  a  definite  direction,  and 
for  a  purpose,  else  you  have  the  disease  which  consists  in 
"  ever  learning,  and  never  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth."  The  satire  on  this  tendency  is  to  be  found  in  the 
habitual  expression  of  the  newspapers,  which,  when  they 
have  narrated  any  new  thing  very  wonderful  and  extraordi- 
nary, add,  by  way  of  comment,  "  What  next  ?  " 

Secondly,  there  are  those  who  are  always  contending  for 
new  things.  These  are  the  reformers,  and  ardent  advocates 
for  all  newness,  who  to  the  love  of  novelty  add  a  practical 
tendency,  and  a  desire  to  see  their  new  ideas  carried  out 
and  established.  They  advocate  new  theories  with  enthu- 
siasm, and  grow  zealous  in  defence  of  them.  The  danger 
here  is  in  narrowness  and  bigotry,  for  a  man  may  be  as 
bigoted  to  a  new  creed  as  to  an  old  one,  and  as  ready  to 
persecute  the  conservatives  as  they  are  to  persecute  him. 


MAKING   ALL   THINGS    NEW.  211 

Nevertheless,  by  the  help  of  this  class  the  world  moves 
forward. 

Thirdly,  there  are  those  who  make  all  things  new.  And 
this  is  the  highest  and  best  style  of  reform,  for  it  reforms 
the  world  by  putting  new  life  into  it.  It  does  not  aim  at 
novelty,  but  at  renewal,  and  so  it  is  both  conservative  and 
radical,  keeping  all  that  is  good  in  the  past,  but  animating 
it  all  with  new  life. 

The  type  of  this  sort  of  newness  which  makes  the  old 
things  new  by  means  of  a  new  life,  is  shown  to  us  every 
year  in  the  regeneration  of  all  nature  around  us.  Every 
Spring  God  says,  "  Behold  I  make  all  things  new."  The 
old  types  remain  unchanged,  the  forms  of  the  familiar  land- 
scape continue  the  same,  the  grass  grows  green  in  the  val- 
leys, the  trees  cover  themselves  with  leaves,  exactly  as  they 
have  done  ten  thousand  times.  It  is  not  a  new  form,  but 
the  inpouring  of  a  new  soul,  which  makes  the  perennial 
charm  of  Spring-time  and  of  June  days.  It  is  not  novelty 
but  renewal. 

And  so  the  best  things  which  can  come  to  our  lives  are 
not  novelties,  but  new  inspirations  of  the  one  eternal  life. 
The  old  truths  which  have  moved  human  hearts  during 
twenty  centuries  move  our  hearts  as  deeply  to-day.  Our 
soul  is  stirred  by  the  tale  of  Marathon  as  when  the  swift 
heralds,  with  flying  feet,  first  bore  the  news  to  Athens.  By 
the  side  of  the  dying  Socrates  we  sympathize  with  the  grief, 
and  unite  in  the  reverent  homage  of  Plato  and  Xenophon. 
The  great  events,  the  great  characters  of  history,  are  new 
with  undying  life.  No  moth  and  no  rust  can  corrupt  the 
song  of  Homer  or  the  Psalms  of  David.  Thus  heroism, 
poetry,  genius,  make  all  things  new.  The  glens  and  moun- 
tains of  Scotland  take  on  new  wonder  and  beauty  in  the 
songs  of  Burns  and  Scott  The  prosaic  streets  of  Salem 
acquire  a  mysterious  charm  in  the  page  of  Hawthorn.     The 


212  MAKING   ALL   THINGS   NEW. 

patriotism  and  courage  which  gave  themselves  to  save 
the  nation  will  make  the  unromantic  field  of  Gettysburg 
full  of  a  solemn  inspiration  forever. .  Wherever  the  human 
soul  manifests  itself  in  its  more  vital  aspects  of  truth,  love, 
honor,  generosity,  fidelity,  it  makes  all  nature  new  around 
it.     By  this  high  ministry  everything  becomes  holy  ground. 

Life,  in  all  its  forms,  makes  all  things  new,  and  makes 
the  world  new.  Events  which  have  happened  a  million 
times  before  are  nevertheless  always  new  with  each  recur- 
rence. What  can  be  older  than  birth,  childhood,  love,  mar- 
riage, death  ?  But  what  can  be  more  new,  more  full  of 
fresh  influence,  bringing  a  sudden  influx  of  joy  and 
mystery,  awakening  the  soul  to  a  new  life,  than  these  ? 
Children  are  common  enough,  but  every  child  is  a  new 
wonder  just  dropped  from  the  skies.  It  seems  to  have  come 
fresh  from  God,  overflowing  with  the  life  of  the  spheres. 
What  knock  is  that  at  our  portal  ?  What  step  is  that  in 
our  chamber?  What  solemn  figure  with  veiled  face  stands 
by  our  bedside  ?  It  is  the  holy  angel  of  death.  He  is 
always  in  the  world.  But  still,  wherever  he  comes,  he 
brings  an  overwhelming  sense  of  strangeness  and  surprise. 
Thus,  to  the  attentive  thoughtful  mind,  all  things  are  new. 
To  this  newness  of  spirit  everything  grows  wonderful,  and 
a  mysterious  meaning  looks  at  us  out  of  the  commonest 
forms  of  nature  and  the  commonest  events  of  life.  Such 
a  spirit  is  the  very  opposite  to  that  of  the  Athenians  —  to 
the  discontented  curiosity  seeking  always  to  hear  some  new 
thing,  and  the  complaining  skepticism  which  murmurs  be- 
cause there  is  no  new  thing  under  the  sun. 

A  new  truth  makes  all  things  new.  I  have  often  talked 
with  men  who  were  brought  up*  on  some  dead  creed,  who 
were  taught  to  go  through  certain  forms  of  worship  and 
call  it  religion,  taught  to  look  on  God  as  a  sovereign 
jealous  of  his  rights,  and  only  willing  to  save  sinners  on 


MAKING   ALL   THINGS    NEW.  213 

condition  that  some  one  should  be  punished  in  their  place. 
These  doctrines  had  hardened  their  hearts,  deadened  their 
spiritual  nature,  and  driven  them  from  God  into  doubt  and 
unbelief ;  for,  as  love  casts  out  fear,  so  does  fear  in  turn 
cast  out  love.  Then  they  were  led  by  some  good  Provi- 
dence to  see  God  in  a  new  light  —  a  being  without  caprice 
or  self-will,  with  steadfast  laws,  always  working  for  the  ul- 
timate good  of  all  his  creatures,  wisely  giving,  wisely  with- 
holding, loving  the  good,  loving  also  the  bad,  not  willing 
that  any  should  perish.  This  benign  truth  opened  their 
soul,  made  all  nature  new,  all  life  new,  made  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth,  took  away  anxiety  and  fear,  and  filled  their 
days  with  bright  hope  and  joy  in  all  work. 

So,  too,  a  new  love  makes  all  things  new.  Not  merely 
the  love  between  man  and  woman,  which  is  the  favorite 
theme  of  novelists  and  poets,  but  new  motherly  love,  the 
new  love  between  two  friends,  new-born  affections  toward 
nature,  art,  work,  country,  the  human  race — these  make  of 
life  a  different  thing.  Do  you  remember  the  beautiful  story 
of  Silas  Marner —  how  a  man  with  no  friendships,  no  affec- 
tions, living  alone  in  a  solitary  hut,  devoting  himself  to  sav- 
ing a  hoard  of  gold,  was  robbed  of  his  money  ?  And  then, 
when  he  came  back  to  his  hut  in  despair,  he  found  a  little 
abandoned  child  who  had  crept  into  his  house  and  gone  to 
sleep  on  the  hearth,  and  how  this  little  child  stirred  the 
hidden  fountains  of  life  in  the  miser's  heart,  so  that  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  infant,  and  all  the  world  became  by 
degrees  to  him  another  world,  old  fears  expelled  and  new 
hopes  created  by  the  power  of  this  new  affection  ? 

In  this  way  Christ  makes  all  things  new,  and  "  if 
any  man  be  in  Christ  he  is  a  new  creation."  Christ 
gives  us  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit,  not  by  any  miracu- 
lous or  supernatural  power,  but  by  the  power  of  the  new 
truth  which  he  shows  to  us,  and  the  new  love  with  which 
he  inspires  us. 


214  MAKING   ALL   THINGS    NEW. 

After  George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  Quakers,  had 
come  into  his  own  solid  faith,  he  says,  "  I  had  now  come 
up  in  spirit,  past  the  flaming  sword,  into  the  Paradise  of 
God.  All  things  were  new,  and  the  creation  gave  another 
smell  unto  me  than  before,  beyond  what  words  can  utter. 
The  •  creation  was  opened  unto  me,  and  the  virtues  of 
things  revealed."  This  a  frequent  experience.  After  a 
great  revelation  of  truth  and  love  to  the  soul,  everything, 
even  in  the  outward  world,  appears  differently.  The  sun 
shines  more  brightly,  the  air  is  more  soft,  the  grass  more 
green,  the  trees  more  graceful,  the  flowers  more  fragrant. 
A  new  faith  makes  all  outward  things  new,  also. 

We,  who  have  been  born  into  the  heritage  of  Christian 
ideas,  cradled  by  Christian  institutions,  taught  in  the 
sciences,  arts,  and  literature  which  have  the  inherited  and 
consolidate  conviction  of  the  Universal  Father  behind  them 
and  below  them — we,  who  look  forward  amid  the  storms 
and  midnight  blackness  of  the  present  with  the  assurance 
that  all  things  are  working  together  for  good,  we  have  no 
notion,  cannot  form  a  conception  of  the  change  which  may 
come  to  one  born  and  bred  in  a  world  empty  of  that  Divine 
presence.  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill,  in  his  melancholy  biog- 
raphy, tells  us  how  his  father,  with  a  sincerely  narrow 
atheism,  shut  out  from  his  child's  mind  all  definite  reli- 
gious knowledge.  But  in  a  Christian  land,  and  in  the  19th 
century  after  Christ,  you  cannot  wholly  exclude  this  ethe- 
real influence.  You  may  form  an  atheistic  library,  expur- 
gated of  all  positive  faith  ;  but  the  divine  trust,  and  love, 
which  have  become  part  of  your  own  life  and  that  of  your 
neighbor,  you  cannot  exclude.  Men-  talk  of  inherited  de- 
pravity, but  is  there  not,  also,  inherited  goodness  ?  Through 
long  generations  of  ancestors  living  conscientious  lives,  fed 
by  Christian  truths,  supported  by  Christian  hopes,  practis- 
ing Christian  obedience,  the  Son  of  God  enters  the  very 


MAKING   ALL   THINGS    NEW.  215 

depths  of  your  heart.  You  might  as  well  try  to  shut  out 
the  blessed  all-healing  atmosphere  by  carefully  closing  the 
doors  and  shutting  down  the  windows,  as  to  exclude  Chris- 
tian faith  by  rejecting  its  positive  creeds,  or  abstaining 
from  its  public  worship. 

Not  novelty,  then,  but  renewal  is  what  we  need.  A  new 
life  of  truth  in  our  minds,  a  new  life  of  love  in  our  hearts 
—  these  shall  make  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth. 
We  want  no  better  world  than  this,  no  better  opportunities 
than  we  have  here.  But  we  need  a  new  spirit  of  faith  and 
love,  in  order  that  God's  kingdom  shall  come  and  his  will 
be  done  in  this  world,  making  this  a  heaven.  This  heaven 
must  begin  in  our  own  hearts,  or  it  will  be  no  heaven  to  us. 
That  is  why  it  is  said,  "Unless  a  man  be  born  again  "  (or, 
rather,  u  be  born  from  on  high  ")  "  he  cannot  see  the  king- 
dom of  God."  Put  him  in  an  outward  heaven,  and  he  will 
not  see  it.  Surround  him  with  hosts  of  angels,  and  he  does 
not  see  them.  Fill  his  ears  with  songs  of  seraphs,  and  he 
knows  nothing  of  that  divine  melody.  Until  he  allows  the 
spirit  of  truth  and  love  to  enter  his  own  soul  and  make  an 
inward  heaven,  no  outward  heaven  can  do  him  any  good. 

Now  this  new  h»aven  and  new  earth,  full  of  righteous- 
ness, peace  and  love,  belongs  to  us  all :  that  is  the  gospel  ; 
that  is  the  good  news.  The  grace  of  God,  which  brings 
salvation,  has  appeared  to  all  men.  Christ  has  died  for  all 
men,  and  the  manifestation  of  the  spirit  is  given  to  every 
man  to  profit  withal.  You  need  not  wait  till  some  miracle 
has  converted  you,  or  till  some  vast  change  has  taken  place 
in  you.  You  have  already  the  seeds  of  the  new  life  in  you 
by  the  Christian  truths  you  have  been  taught,  and  the 
Christian  influence  under  which  you  have  lived.  All  you 
have  to  do  is  to  walk  in,  through  the  open  door,  into  the 
love  of  God  and  man.  Believe  you  can  do  it,  and  you  can 
doit. 


2l6  MAKING    ALL    THINGS    NEW. 

I  was  told  by  a  friend  that,  when  at  the  Centennial  Ex- 
hibition this  summer,  he  was  accosted  by  a  family  who  were 
walking  about  the  grounds,  who  asked  him  how  much  it 
would  cost  them  to  go  into  all  the  buildings.  "  Why,"  said 
he,  "  it  will  cost  you  nothing.  You  paid  at  the  gate  when 
you  entered  the  grounds,  the  whole  price."  So  I  see  per- 
sons, who  go  to  church  year  after  year,  and  yet  stand  out- 
side of  Christianity,  not  enjoying  the  love  of  God,  or  the  pro- 
tection and  friendship  of  Jesus  ;  not  having  any  confidence 
of  being  forgiven  their  sins ;  not  having  any  assurance  of  a 
blessed  immortality ;  not  opening  their  souls  to  the  Spirit  to 
receive  its  peace.  They  stand  outside  of  all  these  divine  com- 
forts and  hopes,  and  do  not  take  hold  of  them,  because  they 
think  they  have  no  right  to  do  so.  To  them  I  say,  "Go  in 
at  once,  and  take  all  you  need.  When  God  led  you  through 
the  gate  into  Christianity  the  price  was  paid.  You  will 
not  probably,  it  is  true,  become  great  saints  at  once.  It 
will  be,  perhaps,  some  time  before  you  get  rid  of  all  your 
evils.  But  you  can  begin  now  to  receive  God's  help,  God's 
power,  God's  inspiration,  and  the  hope  of  the  gospel. 
Nothing  is  necessary,  but  to  go  in.  Nothing  more  is  to  be 
paid.  No  profession  of  faith  j  no  subscription  to  a  creed  ; 
no  promise  or  pledge.  Only  one  purpose  and  one  desire : 
the  purpose  of  always  choosing  right,  not  wrong  ;  and  the 
desire  to  be  helped  by  God  always  to  do  right  and  not 
wrong.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  feel  one's  self  inside  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  not  outside  of  it.  The  sense  of  safety,  when 
we  know  that  we  belong  to  God,  and  that  he  belongs  to 
us,  is  a  source  of  strength.  And  do  you  remember  what 
Jesus  said  to  his  disciples  :  *  Ye  have  not  chosen  me,  but 
I  have  chosen  you."  God  has  chosen  us  to  be  his  chil- 
dren ;  we  did  not  choose  him  to  be  our  Father.  He  has 
chosen  us  to  be  born  in  a  Christian  land,  taught  by  Chris- 
tian parents,  instructed  out  of  a  Christian  Bible.     We  did 


MAKING   ALE   THINGS   NEW.  21 7 

not  select  this  for  ourselves.  What  he  has  begun  to  do 
for  us  he  will  continue  to  do,  and  complete  —  if  we  will 
accept  his  blessings.  We  have  merely  to  go  in.  Modern 
Christianity  has  often  inverted  the  methods  of  original 
Christianity.  The  modern  method  is  to  call  on  men  to 
repent  and  believe  and  be  converted  and  obey,  in  order  to 
be  saved.  But  Paul  called  on  men  to  repent  and  believe, 
and  be  converted,  and  obey,  because  they  had  been  saved. 
The  Corinthian  and  Roman  Christians  to  whom  he  wrote 
were  no  better  than  we  are  —  probably  worse  —  for  they 
had  the  blood  of  many  generations  of  heathen  ancestors 
running  in  their  veins,  and  we  have  the  blood  of  many 
generations  of  .Christian  ancestors  in  ours.  They  did  not 
know  as  much  of  Christian  truth  as  we  do,  for  they  had  no 
Bible,  no  Sunday  school,  and  no  religious  books.  But 
Paul  said  to  them :  "  If  ye  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those 
things  which  are  above."  "  Forgive  one  another,  even  as 
God  in  Christ  has  forgiven  you."  "  Lie  not  one  to  another, 
since  ye  have  put  off  the  old  man  and  his  deeds."  "  Walk 
worthy  of  your  calling."  "  Put  off  the  old  man."  "  Put  on 
the  new  man."  "  Be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your  mind." 
And  all  this  not  in  order  to  be  forgiven,  but  "  because 
God,  in  Christ,  has  forgiven  you." 

Thus  God  makes  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  wher- 
ever the  truth  and  love  of  Jesus  go.  The  new  heavens 
first ;  the  new  earth 'afterwards.  First,  the  inward  convic- 
tions ;  then  the  outward  life.  First  the  seed,  then  the 
plant ;  the  fruit  last  of  all.  We  are  not  to  try  to  do  our 
duty  that  God  may  love  us  ;  but  because  God  loves  us 
therefore  let  us  do  our  duty.  We  are  not  to  try  to  be  good 
in  order  to  go  to  heaven ;  but  be  in  heaven  now,  by  faith, 
submission,  gratitude,  patience,  hope,  love  j  and  then  we 
shall  easily  grow  up  into  all  things.  In  order  to  grow, 
plants  need   sunshine.     In  order   to   any  mental,  moral, 


2l8  MAKING   ALL   THINGS   NEW. 

spiritual  growth,  the  human  plant  needs  sunshine.  People 
trying  to  make  themselves  fit  to  become  God's  children 
by  painful  effort,  seem  to  me  like  the  vines  in  a  dark 
cellar,  stretching  up  their  weak  and  sickly  branches  to- 
wards the  light  which  shines  feebly  through  a  few  small 
openings.  But  only  believe  that  you  are  God's  children, 
and  that  he  loves  you  and  will  help  you  to  correct  all  your 
faults,  and  grow  up  into  a  Christian  life,  and  then  you  are 
like  the  same  vines  planted  out  in  the  summer  sunshine, 
and  June  air,  and  fed  by  the  dews  and  the  softly  falling 
showers. 

First,  the  new  heavens  j  then  the  new  earth  :  this  is  the 
order  by  which  life  comes  down.  First,  a  new  earth  ;  then 
the  new  heavens :  this  is  the  order  by  which  human  effort 
goes  up.  For  our  work  begins  with  what  is  around  us, 
doing  good  to  our  next-door  neighbor,  and  widening  out 
the  circles  of  Christian  activity.  For  our  inspiration,  go 
at  once  to  the  Most  High,  as  the  Universal  Father,  and 
live  in  communion  with  him.  So  the  new  heavens  will 
make  a  new  earth,  and  earth,  vivified  by  this  influence,  will 
be  developed  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

During  the  present  year,  Christ  can  make  everything 
new  in  our  souls,  if  we  will  let  him  do  so.  He  can  bring 
God  so  near  to  us  that,  instead  of  seeing  a  great  and  awful 
being,  to  be  propitiated  by  prayers  and  humiliation,  he 
shall  seem  better  to  us  than  the  best  friend,  dearer  and 
tenderer  than  the  tenderest.  We  may  come  to  feel  habit- 
ually the  influence  of  God  in  our  souls  making  all  things 
new. 

So,  too,  in  our  churches,  the  same  spirit  can  make  all 
things  new.  So  in  society,  in  the  State,  in  the  world,  the 
new  heavens  may  this  year  make  more  and  more  of  a  new 
earth. 


MAKING   ALL    THINGS    NEW.  219 

And  thus  too  in  the  coming  year,  our  nation  purified  by 
trial,  disciplined  by  difficulty,  may  begin  to  get  clear  of  the 
snares  and  nets  of  selfish  politicians,  and  learn  to  do  justly, 
and  to  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  God. 


9 


XXI. 

NOT  TO  DESTROY,  BUT  FULFIL 

"  I  AM  NOT  COME  TO  DESTROY,  BUT  TO  FULFIL." 

THESE  words  are  the  key  to  one  of  the  deepest  prin- 
ciples of  the  Christian  religion.  Its  main  purpose  is 
not  to  destroy  anything  old,  but  to  add  something  new.  It 
comes  to  conquer  error  by  teaching  truth,  to  cure  sin  by 
giving  an  enthusiasm  for  goodness,  to  put  an  end  to  selfish- 
ness by  inspiring  generosity,  to-  overcome  evil  with  good. 
This  may  be  called  emphatically  the  Christian  method  of 
reform — the  method  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
lfrr^j'rThe  other  way,  and  the  common  one,  is  to  attack  evil 
directly,  and  try  to  pluck  it  up  or  beat  it  down  by  force. 
And  if  evil  were  always  pure,  unadulterated  evil^his  might 
seem  the  best  method.  But  as  evil  is  almost  always  a  per- 
version of  something  good,  an  abuse  of  something  useful, 
or  an  excess  of  something  right,  the  destructive  method  of 
reform  is  often  a  failure.  "  I  early  saw,"  said  the  wise 
German  philosopher,  Goethe,  "  that  our  virtues  and  vices 
grow  from  the  same  roots."  This  idea  is  also  intimated 
in  the  parable  of  the  wheat  and  tares.  The  servants,  when 
they  find  the  wheat  field  full  of  tares,  wish  to  go  to  work 
at  once  and  drag  them  up  by  the  roots.  But  the  experi- 
enced master  said,  "  Not  so  !  lest  in  pulling  up  the  tares 
ye  root  out  the  wheat  also.    Let  both  grow  together  until 

(aao) 


NOT  TO  DESTROY,  BUT  FULFIL.        221 

the  harvest,  and  in  the  time  of  harvest  I  will  say  to  my 
reapers,  *  Gather  the  tares  first  and  burn  them,  but  gather 
the  wheat  into  my  barn.' "  The  roots  of  the  wheat  and 
tares  become  so  intertwined  and  tangled  together  that  you 
cannot  eradicate  the  one  without  destroying  the  other. 

In  the  early  ages  of  Christianity,  when  luxury  and  sen- 
suality pervaded  all  parts  of  Roman  society,  the  Christians 
fled  into  the  desert,  there  to  fight  against  their  appetites 
and  passions  and  destroy  them,  and  so  become  holy  like 
their  master.  But  this  destructive  method  did  not  succeed. 
They  ought  to  have  fulfilled  their  nature,  and  not  sought 
to  destroy  it.  Jesus  said  in  his  prayer  for  his  disciples,  "  I 
pray  not  that  thou  shouldest  take  them  out  of  the  world, 
but  that  thou  shouldest  keep  them  from  the  evil."  These 
disciples  wished  to  get  out  of  the  world  ;  to  crush  down 
their  rebellious  nature  ;  to  weaken  their  desires  by  lonely 
abstinence.  They  did  not  succeed.  Wild  passions  took 
the  form  of  fanatic  fury  in  their  souls.  Visions  of  tempta- 
tion assumed  a  bodily  shape  before  their  eyes.  The  only 
way  to  escape  the  control  of  low  desires  and  passions  is  to 
rise  above  them  in  the  love  of  better  things.  The  only 
way  to  overcome  the  world  is  not  to  run  away  from  it,  but 
to  be  in  it  yet  not  of  it. 

Here  is  a  little  child,  who  is  a  great  tease  and  trouble. 
He  is  always  asking  to  do  this  or  that  impossible  or  unper- 
missible  action.  He  bursts  in  abruptly  upon  the  conver- 
sation of  his  seniors.  He  destroys  all  peace  in  the  house 
by  shouts  and  screams,  imperious  demands  on  the  time 
and  attention  of  others,  endless  interruptions  of  every 
one's  affairs.  He  is  an  imp  of  mischief,  breaking  furni- 
ture, overturning  inkstands  on  the  carpet,  setting  fire  to 
valuable  papers,  driving  nails  into  the  furniture.  How 
shall  you  abate  this  nuisance  ?  You  may  try  to  destroy 
these  bad  habits  by  scolding  him,  by  rebukes,  by  lectures, 


222        NOT  TO  DESTROY,  BUT  FULFIL. 

by  punishments.  That  is  one  way,  but  not  the  best.  These 
bad  habits  often  spring  from  an  instinct  of  activity,  an 
intense  desire  to  do  something,  which  the  Creator  has  given 
the  child  as  a  means  of  mental  and  moral  growth.  In  try- 
ing to  pull  up  the  tares,  you  are  in  great  danger  of  rooting 
out  the  wheat,  also.  If  you  succeed  by  force  in  changing 
his  disagreeable  torment  of  perpetual  activity  into  a  dull 
quiet,  you  have  changed  a  bright  boy  into  a  dull  one.  A 
better  way  than  destroying  this  tendency  is  to  fulfil  it  by 
giving  him  plenty  of  occupation  of  an  innocent  kind.  Give 
him  a  heap  of  sand  to  dig,  blocks  of  wood  to  build  houses 
with,  a  box  of  tools  and  boards  to  saw.  Set  him  at  some 
work  useful  or  interesting,  or,  at  least,  harmless.  He  will 
like  all  this  better  than  he  likes  mischief.  All  his  irregular 
activity  was  a  cry  for  something  to  do. 

The  old  method  of  treating  criminals  in  England  was 
the  destructive  method  —  it  was  simply  to  hang  them. 
Men,  women  and  children  were  hung  for  stealing  a  piece 
of  bread.  But  this  did  not  stop  stealing.  Crime  increased 
with  punishment.  Now  we  try  to  cure  criminals  by  turn- 
ing their  vicious  propensities  into  good  channels.  We  do 
not  always  succeed  in  doing  it,  but  we  do  sometimes,  and, 
on  the  whole,  there  is  much  less  crime  under  the  modern 
system  than  under  the  old  one. 
/  The  old  way  of  treating  disease  was  to  try  to  destroy  it 
by  heroic  methods.  The  patient  was  bled  day  after  day, 
and  his  body  was  searched  with  violent  poisons,  so,  that 
while  he  was  being  cured  of  the  disease,  he  often  died  of 
the  medicine.  This  was  the  destructive  method  in  medical 
practice.  But  now  the  wise  physician  fears  lest,  while  he 
is  thus  trying  to  root  out  the  tares  of  disease,  he  may  also 
pull  up  with  them  the  wheat  of  life.  So,  instead,  he 
surrounds  the  vital  power  with  healthy  conditions,  and  thus 
encourages  nature  to  outgrow  or  grow  put  its  morbid  ten- 


NOT  TO  DESTROY,  BUT  FULFIL.        223 

dencies.  This  is  the  positive,  creative,  productive  method 
in  medicine.  We  are  to  fulfil  bodily  existence  by  filling 
the  body  full  of  life. 

We  sometimes  see  bold,  bad  men,  full  of  energy  and 
ability,  who  are  doing  infinite  mischief  in  society — demor- 
alizing politics  and  encouraging  all  rascalities.  We  wish 
the  Lord  would  take  them  away.  "  If  they  would  only  die  !  " 
we  say.  But  the  Lord  knows  better  than  that.  He  leaves 
them  here  to  rouse  our  energy  to  oppose  them.  He  does 
not  mean  our  life  should  be  too  easy.  We  can  conquer 
them  if  we  will,  but  only  by  rising  to  a  higher  plane  our- 
selves, being  willing  to  made  sacrifices  for  our  country,  to 
give  our  time  and  thought  and  means  to  its  salvation.  The 
people  must  learn  that  it  is  a  solemn  duty  to  take  part  in 
public  affairs,  and  so  we  shall  not  destroy  evil,  but  over- 
come it  with  good  and  swallow  it  up  in  something  better. 

Thus,  in  attempting  to  get  rid  of  any  bad  ideas,  bad  insti- 
tutions, or  bad  usages,  there  are  these  two  different  ways 
of  doing  it.  One  way  is  to  attack  them  directly  with  argu- 
ment, rebuke,  denunciation  ;  to  get  up  a  party  against 
them,  to  create  a  public  sentiment  hostile  to  them  and  so 
destroy  them.  The  other  way  is  to  substitute  something 
better  in  their  place — to  persuade  men  to  leave  them  for  the 
sake  of  what  is  more  attractive,  overcoming  error  by  truth, 
overcoming  evil  by  good,  overcoming  war  by  peace,  over- 
coming wickedness  by  goodness.  One  is  the  destructive 
method  ;  the  other,  the  method  of  fulfilment. 

Both  methods  are  necessary  and  useful,  but  the  last  is 
the  highest.  If  a  thing  is  wholly  bad,  we  must  destroy  it ; 
if  it  is  only  half  bad,  if  it  is  bad  mixed  with  good,  then  we 
must  make  the  good  better,  and  so  destroy  the  evil. 

Both  methods  are  necessary.  Some  things  are  so  bad 
that  nothing  can  be  done  with  them  but  put  them  under 
the  ground  as  soon  as  possible.     They  must  be  destroyed, 


224        NOT  TO  DESTROY,  BUT  FULFIL. 

burnt  up  with  fire,  overflooded  with  water,  swallowed  by  the 
earth.  Conflagrations,  pestilences,  wars,  earthquakes, 
floods  ;  these  are  often  divine  agencies  of  destruction  when 
nations  and  things  have  grown  so  bad  that  they  cannot 
be  mended. 

Some  men  are  sent  to  destroy.  That  is  their  mission. 
They  are  swords  in  the  hand  of  the  Almighty ;  his  besom 
of  destruction.  It  is  a  sad,  hard,  terrible  mission  j  but  it 
is  given  to  some  persons  to  be  destroying  angels.  They 
have  a  large  organ  of  destructiveness  put  into  the  back  of 
their  heads ;  they  have  a  mind  intolerant  of  falsehood,  a 
merciless  sense  of  justice,  a  faculty  of  criticism  sharp  as  a 
razor,  and  they  do  a  necessary  work  in  destroying  false- 
hoods, shams,  wicked  customs,  bad  usages.  They  spare 
no  one  in  their  righteous  wrath.  They  hew  down  Agag 
without  ruth  or  pity.  Such  a  man  was  Elijah  ;  such  an- 
other man  was  John  the  Baptist.  Such  men  we  have  had 
in  our  times,  prophets  crying  in  the  wilderness,  men  dwel- 
ling among  a  people  of  unclean  lips,  hunters  of  heresy, 
critics  who  rend  with  teeth  and  claws,  radical  reformers  of 
every  kind.  Usually  they  are  men  of  a  billious  tempera- 
ment, sallow,  thin,  with  deep  sunken  eyes,  consumed  by  an 
inward  fire.  They  live  in  perpetual  strife ;  they  have  few 
friends,  though  many  allies.  People  fear  them,  but  do  not 
love  them.     So  they  go  their  solitary  way  to  their  graves. 

But  a  destructive  reform  is  not  the  best  kind.  It  is 
sweeping  and  indiscriminate,  pulling  up  the  tares  and 
wheat  both.  It  is  negative,  not  positive.  At  best,  it  only 
holds  back  from  evil  ;  it  does  not  incite  to  good.  It  feeds 
on  denial,  criticism,  fault-finding.  It  is  very  much  given 
to  scolding,  which  it  thinks  courageous.  It  loves  to  attack 
whatever  is  venerable,  and  often  fancies  that  whatever  is  old 
ought  to  come  to  an  end.  It  does  not  know  how  to  build 
or  plant,  only  how  to  pull  down.     It  considers  its  work  the 


NOT  TO   DESTROY,    BUT   FULFIL.  225 

greatest  of  all,  since  to  fell  a  forest  makes  much  more 
noise  than  to  plant  one.  But  the  work  of  destruction  is 
always  superficial ;  it  soon  passes  by,  and  by  itself  is  of 
little  value.  (^ 

A  remarkable  fact  about  the  work  of  Jesus  is  that  his 
reform  was  radical,  because  conservative.  Opposed  to  de- 
struction always,  he  thought  it  better,  instead  of  pulling 
out  the  weeds,  to  grow  them  out. 

The  only  thing  which  Jesus  directly  attacks  is  Hypoc- 
risy. What  is  earnest,  what  is  natural,  however  wrong 
it  may  be,  he  pities.  The  only  thing  he  hates  is  pretence, 
cant,  lies  dressed  up  to  look  like  truth. 

The  great  work  of  Jesus  was  Fulfilment.  He  came  to 
fill  everything  full  of  new  life,  new  truth,  new  love  ;  to  ful- 
fil the  Old  Testament  with  the  New ;  the  law  with  the 
gospel  ;  nature  with  grace  ;  morality  with  piety ;  reason 
with  faith  ;  this  mortal  life  with  an  immortal  hope. 

Jesus  was  the  greatest  of  all  reformers.  To  him  the  most 
sacred  things  of  his  time  had  nothing  sacred.  The  Temple, 
with  all  its  grand  and  tender  associations,  had  no  charm 
to  him  compared  with  the'  sincere  worship  of  one  true 
heart.  The  Temple  might  be  destroyed  and  made  a  heap 
of  ruins,  and  he  could  raise  up  a  better  temple  in  three 
days  in  hearts  full  of  the  love  of  God  and  man.  The  Sab- 
bath was  not  sacred,  except  as  it  served  man  and  made 
man  better.  The  holy  and  pious  men  of  his  nation  —  the 
priests  and  Levites  and  Pharisees  —  he  called  these  blind 
and  hypocritical  leaders  of  a  blinded  nation.  To  a  conser- 
vative Jew  it  must  have  seemed  that  Jesus  was  a  most  dan- 
gerous and  destructive  radical,  to  whom  nothing  was  ven- 
erable or  sacred.  Not  the  Temple  —  he  said  it  would  be 
destroyed ;  not  the  Sabbath  —  it  was  only  a  means,  not  an 
end  ;  not  the  Priesthood  —  he  denounced  its  selfishness ; 
not  the  law  of  Moses  —  he  set  himself  above  the  law. 

*5 


226        NOT  TO  DESTROY,  BUT  FULFIL. 

Though  he  said,  "  I  have  not  come  to  destroy  the  law  or 
the  prophets,"  yet  he  distinctly  rejects  many  things  in  the 
law  of  Moses.  He  rejects  the  rule  given  by  Moses  about 
divorce.  "  Moses  for  the  hardness  of  your  hearts  suffered 
you  to  put  away  your  wives."  He  distinctly  sets  aside  the 
Levitical  law  about  meats.  "  Hear  and  understand  j  not 
that  which  enters  into  the  man  defileth  a  man."  He  dis- 
tinguishes between  the  letter  and  spirit,  the  substance  and 
form.  All  in  Judaism  is  true  as  to  the  spirit,  not  as  to  the 
letter.  It  will  all  be  fulfilled ;  then  the  letter  will  pass 
away.  So  spring  is  not  destroyed,  but  fulfilled,  by  summer. 
Summer  is  not  destroyed,  but  fulfilled,  by  autumn.  Child- 
hood is  not  destroyed,  but  fulfilled,  by  manhood  and  age. 
Nothing  really  good  is  destroyed ;  it  passes  up  into  some- 
thing higher.  "  The  child  is  father  to  the  man,"  not  the 
man  to  the  child. 

Thus  Christianity  does  not  destroy  the  law  of  Moses, 
but  fulfils  it. 

It  fulfils  the  Sabbath,  which  was  a  command  not  to 
work  on  the  seventh  day,  by  a  rest  of  the  mind  and  heart 
all  the  time.  There  is  no  Sabbath  in  Christianity  ;  it  has 
been  fulfilled  by  a  perpetual  Sabbath.  There  is  no  Sab- 
bath-keeping left  for  Christians ;  but  there  is  something 
better  than  Sabbath-keeping.  It  is  to  turn  aside  from  the 
routine  of  toil,  and  rest  the  mind  and  heart  in  love  to  God 
and  love  to  man.  The  essential  rest  of  Christianity  is  a 
sense  of  peace  with  God  and  man,  growing  out  of  faith 
and  love.  This  fulfils  the  Jewish  Sabbath.  According  to 
the  Epistle  of  the  Hebrews,  this  is  the  "  rest  which  remains 
to  the  people  of  God."  The  original  word  for  "  rest "  is 
"  a  Sabbath-keeping."  There  remains  a  Sabbath  for  God's 
people ;  it  is  to  abstain  from  our  own  works,  as  God  did 
from  his.  Not  outward  works,  for  Jesus  tells  us,  "  My 
Father  worketh  always,  and  I  work;"  but  from  inward 


NOT   TO   DESTROY,    BUT   FULFIL.  227 

work,  from  anxiety,  care,  unrest  of  soul,  dissatisfaction 
with  our  lot. 

Thus,  too,  Christianity  fulfils  the  Old  Testament  by  the 
New.  Christianity  does  not  destroy  it.  Christianity  ac- 
cepts the  doctrines  of  the  Old  Testament  so  far  as  they 
go.  There  were  great  truths  in  the  view  of  God  as  one 
supreme  being,  holy,  just  and  good.  Christ  fulfils  it  by 
seeing  God  as  Father.  Not  the  Jewish  geology,  or  age  of 
the  world,  or  Jewish  history  ;  not  the  story  of  Joshua  and  the 
sun,  of  Jonah  and  the  whale ;  not  the  skepticism  of  Ecclesi- 
astes,  nor  the  Love  Song  of  Solomon,  are  divine.  But  the 
divine  element  in  the  Old  Testament  which  has  made  it 
outlast  falling  empires,  and  constituted  it  to-day  a  part  of 
the  religion  of  civilized  man,  is  its  perpetual  faith  in  one 
living,  supreme,  ever-present  God,the  perpetual  Providence, 
ruler,  judge  of  men.  Out  of  this  faith  Christianity  grew ; 
this  faith  Christianity  fulfils  in  love. 

It  fulfils  the  Sabbath  in  a  loving  rest  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Father.  It  fulfils  the  temple-worship  in  a  sense  of  the 
universal  presence  of  God  in  all  nature  and  all  life.  It 
fulfils  the  Levitical  priesthood  by  making  all  men  priests 
and  kings  to  God  ;  it  fulfils  the  ten  commandments  by  the 
one  command,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself," 
in  which,  as  Paul  says,  all  the  commandments  are  briefly 
comprehended. 

Love  fulfils  law.  The  divine  laws  working  relentlessly 
in  Nature  are  fulfilled  by  the  divine  love  which  causes  them 
all  to  work  together  for  the  ultimate  good  of  the  world. 

Human  faults  and  follies  are  not  so  often  destroyed 
as  fulfilled  in  something  better.  The  faults  and  follies  of 
youth  are  often  virtues  which  have  lost  their  way.  They 
are  one-sided  and  extravagant  developments  of  tendencies 
not  in  themselves  bad.  As  years  pass  on,  the  frivolity  of 
one  is  tempered  into  some  deeper  purpose.     It  was  not  so 


228        NOT  TO  DESTROY,  BUT  FULFIL. 

much  folly  as  light-heartedness.  This  man's  conceit  has 
been  taken  out  of  him  by  hard  knocks  ;  that  man's  egotism 
softened  by  the  growth  of  some  generous  affections.  A 
true  friendship  has  elevated  your  ideas  and  purposes.  My 
dear  brother,  the  life  of  your  friend  has  gone  into  your  own 
soul  and  purified  it.  I  see  before  me  a  group  of  men  and 
women  whom  I  knew  as  boys  and  girls.  Then,  they  had 
about  them  much  that  was  false,  shallow,  disagreeable. 
They  were  wilful,  they  were  sharp  and  reckless  in  speech, 
they  were  dangerously  self-indulgent ;  they  seemed  devoid 
of  reverence  for  good  things.  But  here  they  are,  to  day, 
scattered  abroad,  serious  people,  kind-hearted  people,  hon- 
orable and  upright,  pillars  of  society  in  different  places,  as 
their  fathers  and  mothers  were  before  them.  What  great 
conversion  has  thus  regenerated  them  ?  They  cannot  tell 
you  when  or  where  they  were  changed.  But  life  has 
changed  them.  It  has  balanced  their  excesses,  softened 
their  hardness,  restrained  their  wilfulness,  rounded  the 
corners,  and  infused  into  their  hearts  a  sweeter  and  better 
temper.  It  has  not  destroyed  their  nature,  but  fulfilled  it. 
All  that  they  can  say  of  themselves  is  that  which  Paul  said 
of  himself,  "  When  I  was  a  child,  I  spake  as  a  child.  But 
now  I  am  a  man  I  have  put  away  childish  things." 

The  best  way  to  cure  our  faults  is  not  to  fight  against 
them,  but  to  cure  them  by  taking  interest  in  the  opposite 
good.  The  best  way  to  cure  intemperance  is  to  give  the 
intemperate  man  some  higher  interests  ;  to  interest  him  in 
better  things  than  meat  and  drink.  To  cure  a  man  of  the 
love  of  money,  interest  him  in  giving  money  to  good  things; 
make  him  take  pleasure  in  giving  as  well  as  getting.  To 
cure  a  man  or  boy  of  cruelty  to  animals,  make  them  in- 
terested in  the  life  of  animals,  by  teaching  them  natural 
history.  And  to  cure  men  of  all  evil,  make  them  love  the 
supreme  goodness.     This  was  the  method  of  Jesus.     So 


NOT   TO   DESTROY,    BUT   FULFIL.  229 

he  filled  men  with  the  fulness  of  God  ;  so  he  vitalized  the 
world  with  a  higher  faith  and  hope.  You  cannot  cast  out 
demons  by  the  help  of  demons,  but  only  by*the  finger  of 
God. 

The  best  cure  for  bodily  disease  or  ill-health  is  to  quick- 
en the  life  of  the  body,  put  more  vitality  into  it ;  fill  it  full 
of  bodily  life.  The  cure  for  intellectual  disease  or  error 
is  to  vitalize  the  mind,  quicken  its  interest  in  truth,  fill  the 
mind  with  mental  life.  The  cure  for  moral  disease,  or  vicious 
habits,  is  to  vitalize  the  moral  nature,  awaken  the  con- 
science, rouse  the  sense  of  responsibility,  make  goodness 
attractive  and  lovable.  The  cure  for  spiritual  disease,  or 
sin,  is  to  vitalize  the  soul,  and  fill  it  full  of  spiritual  life  by 
making  God  lovable.  This  is  what  Jesus  came  to  do  and 
did.  "  I  have  come  that  they  may  have  life,  and  that  they 
might  have  it  more  abundantly."  He  did  not  come  to 
teach  a  stricter  law  of  duty,  but  to  make  law  and  desire 
one  in  making  us  love  what  is  good.  To  "  love  is  the  ful- 
filling of  the  law." 

So  it  is  that  Christianity,  as  the  highest  truth,  is  not 
negative,  but  positive  ;  not  destructive,  but  creative.  It 
fulfils  all  by  love.     Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law. 

It  takes  us  from  a  low  past,  to  a  better  future  ;  not  by 
dropping  the  past,  but  by  carrying  it  forward  into  some- 
thing nobler.  We  forget  things  behind,  but  we  do  not  lose 
them  when  we  are  in  the  right  way.  We  seem  to  leave 
them  behind,  but  we  take  them  with  us  in  higher  forms. 
We  seem  to  leave  and  lose  our  youth,  but  the  best  part  of 
youth,  the  youth  of  the  heart,  we  need  never  lose.  We 
think  we  forget  what  we  once  knew,  but  deep  down  in  the 
mind  it  is  there  still.  All  the  substantial  knowledge  is 
there,  "  consolidate  in  mind  and  frame  "  —  all  the  experi- 
ence of  the  past  goes  forward  into  the  future.  Friend- 
ship and  love  appear  to  pass  away.     But  not  so ;  whatever 


23O        NOT  TO  DESTROY,  BUT  FULFIL. 

is  true  in  them  is  permanent,  and  will  remain  an  everlast- 
ing possession. 

Life  passes !  Immortality  comes  !  Our  friends  go  away, 
they  pass  on  through  the  low  portal  of  death  into  an  un- 
seen world.  But  as  Christ  came  nearer  to  his  disciples  after 
death  than  he  was  when  he  lived,  so  they  often  come  near 
to  us,  and  help  us  most  when  we  no  longer  see  them  near. 
Nothing  good,  nothing  real,  can  ever  wholly  go.  Nature 
passes,  youth  passes,  opinions  pass,  time  passes,  but  the 
solid  part  of  each  stays,  and  will  stay  always. 


XXII. 

VOLUNTARY  AND  AUTOMATIC  MORALITY;  OR, 
HOW  PROGRESS  IS  POSSIBLE. 

"  For  unto  every  one  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall 
have  abundance;  but  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be 

TAKEN   AWAY   EVEN   THAT  WHICH   HE   HATH." 

THIS  seems  rather  hard  —  it  seems  hard  that  a  man 
who  has  only  a  little  should  have  that  little  taken 
from  him,  and  it  does  not  seem  fair  that  because  another 
man  has  already  a  great  deal,  that  more  should  be  bestowed 
on  him.  If  this  were  something  arbitrary,  it  would  be 
very  unintelligible  ;  but  I  think  we  can  understand  the 
meaning  of  it,  and  see  why  it  is  right  and  good,  if  we 
consider  it  to  be  a  law  of  human  nature  and  human  society. 
The  law  is  a  very  beneficial  one,  for4  human  progress 
depends  on  it.  The  working  of  this  law  makes  men  better, 
and  the  world  better.  In  fact,  there  could  be  no  such 
thing  as  human  civilization  without  it. 

The  law  laid  down  in  the  parable  is  this  :  that  when  we 
use  our  powers  and  faculties  we  gain  more  power  and  more 
faculty ;  that  when  we  neglect  to  use  them,  they  decrease, 
and  at  last  perish.  We  cannot  possess  anything  except  by 
using  it.  If  we  do  not  use  our.  powers  they  are  either 
taken  away  entirely,  or  else  cease  to  be  of  any  advantage 
to  us. 

Such  is  the  case  with  bodily  organs,  but  such  is  still 
more  the  case  with  mental  organs.  Practice  makes  perfect, 
it  is  said.     But  notice  this,  it  is  not  undirected  practice,  or 

(231) 


232  VOLUNTARY  AND    AUTOMATIC    MORALITY. 

the  random  use  of  any  power,  but  it  is  the  carefully  arranged 
practice  which  improves  it.  In  other  words,  it  is  practice 
directed  towards  an  end. 

If,  for  instance,  one  wished  to  improve  his  memory,  he 
would  not  do  it  by  committing  to  memory  at  random  a  vast 
variety  of  facts  or  words.  He  must  arrange  a  list  of  what 
he  is  most  apt  to  forget,  and  not  go  to  anything  else  till  he 
has  mastered  that  list  and  fixed  it  firmly  in  his  mind.  Then 
he  can  go  on  to  something  else.  In  order  to  improve  our 
powers,  we  must  work  for  a  definite  purpose,  and  with  a 
carefully  arranged  method. 

Robert  Houdon,  the  celebrated  French  juggler,  tells  us 
how  he  acquired  one  element  of  his  power,  an  extreme 
quickness  and  accuracy  of  observation.  His  father  took 
him  through  one  of  the  boulevards  of  Paris,  crowded  with 
people,  and  led  him  slowly  past  a  shop  window  in  which 
were  exhibited  a  great  multitude  of  different  articles,  and 
then  made  him  tell  how  many  he  had  been  able  to  notice 
and  recollect.  This  practice  so  strengthened  and  quick- 
ened the  perceptive  powers,  that,  at  last,  he  became  able 
to  recollect  every  article  in  a  large  shop  window  by  only 
walking  past  it  a  single  time.  The  more  he  exercised  the 
faculty,  the  easier  it  became.  The  more  he  had  of  this 
quickness  of  observation,  the  more  was  given  to  him. 

A  friend  of  mine,  President  Thomas  Hill,  told  me  that 
when  he  was  on  the  School  Committee  at  Waltham,  he 
endeavored  to  learn  how  far  the  perceptive  power  of  the 
primary  school  children  might  be  improved.  For  this  end 
he  would  take  a  handful  of  beans,  and  throw  a  few  of  them 
on  the  table,  and  instantly  cover  them  with  his  other  hand, 
and  then  make  the  children  watch  and  say  how  many  there 
were  under  his  hand.  He  told  me  that  they  improved 
until  they*could  count  them  accurately  up  to  ten  or  twelve, 
during  the  moment  that  they  lay  uncovered  on  the  table. 


VOLUNTARY    AND    AUTOMATIC    MORALITY.  233 

In  the  same  way  acrobats  and  gymnasts,  by  careful  and 
systematic  training,  develop  herculean  strength  of  limb  and 
power  of  equipoise.  I  have  seen  a  man  stand  on  one  foot 
on  a  slack  wire,  which  was  swinging  to  and  fro,  and  bal- 
ance four  or  five  dinner  plates  on  as  many  sticks  held  in 
his  left  hand.  As  one  improves  any  power  by  careful 
training,  he  gets  more.  He  has  much,  and  more  is  given 
him. 

But  if  we  neglect  to  exercise  our  powers,  they  degen- 
erate, and  at  last  disappear.  The  fishes  in  the  Mam- 
moth Cave  have  lost  their  eyes  by  not  using  them,  in 
that  Egyptian  darkness.  So,  if  men  do  not  employ  any 
power,  they  at  last  become  incapable  of  using  it.  Cessation 
of  function,  from  whatever  cause,  is  invariably  followed  by 
wasting  of  the  organ  in  which  the  function  has  its  seat. 
The  gland  which  does  not  secrete,  diminishes  in  bulk  ;  the 
nerve  that  does  not  transmit  impressions  wastes  away  j  the 
muscle  which  does  not  contract  withers.  The  arm  of  a 
blacksmith  and  the  legs  of  a  mountaineer  enlarge,  but 
the  arms  of  the  Hindoo  devotee,  which  are  held  in  the 
same  position  for  years,  unable  to  move,  decay  in  size  and 
force. 

The  intellectual  and  moral  organs,  like  the  physical,  are 
liable  to  atrophy,  from  disease.  If  a  person  does  not 
take  pains  to  observe,  and  to  remember  what  he  observes, 
the  power  of  seeing  and  remembering  gradually  decays. 
He  who  does  not  think  seriously  on  anything  will  become 
frivolous,  and  not  be  able  to  apply  his  mind  at  all.  Those 
unfortunate  young  people,  who  are  not  obliged  to  work  for 
a  living,  and  who  do  not  work  from  a  sense  of  duty,  are  at 
last  unable  to  take  hold  of  any  serious  enterprise.  They 
lose  the  power  of  work,  and  spend  their  days  in  idleness, 
and  have  none  of  that  divine  joy  which  comes  from  the 
sense  of  accomplishment.     They  can  never  say,  "  I  have 


234  VOLUNTARY    AND   AUTOMATIC    MORALITY. 

finished  that  piece  of  work  !  "  The  most  unhappy  people  I 
have  known  are  those  who  have  nothing  to  do.  It  is  a 
fortunate  thing  for  most  of  us  that  we  are  obliged  to  work, 
and  so  acquire  the  discipline,  the  education,  and  the  content 
which  result  from  doing  with  our  might  what  our  hand  finds 
to  do. 

To  him  who  hath  knowledge,  more  shall  be  given,  and 
he  shall  have  abundance.  Knowledge  in  the  mind  is  such 
a  vital  and  vitalizing  power,  that  it  makes  the  intellect 
active  to  see,  to  learn,  to  remember.  The  first  foreign 
language  we  learn  is  difficult ;  the  second  is  easier ;  the 
third  is  acquired  with  still  greater  facility.  If  we  study  the 
history  of  one  nation,  or  one  epoch,  we  find  ourselves 
attracted  to  another  and  another.  The  person  who  has 
studied  botany  finds  new  plants  when  he  travels.  Whoever 
travels  with  an  empty,  untaught  mind,  comes  back- nearly 
as  ignorant  as  he  went ;  but  the  geologist,  the  artist,  the 
man  who  has  read  geography  and  history,  or  who  knows 
well  any  industry,  or  manufacture,  or  art,  is  able  to  see 
something  new  wherever  he  goes.  Just  as  the  merchant 
must  send  out  some  freight  in  his  vessel  in  order  to  bring 
back  a  cargo,  the  traveller  must  take  some  knowledge  with 
him  abroad  if  he  wishes  to  bring  any  with  him  home. 

We  have  heard  of  persons  who  have  stayed  in  their 
house  and  avoided  society  until  it  became  impossible  for 
them  to  leave  their  home  or  their  room.  We  owe 
something  to  society  ;  we  all  can  be  of  use  to  others  by 
some  kindly,  cheerful  companionship  ;  but  these  people 
have  buried  their  talent  in  the  earth,  until  at  last  it  is 
taken  from  them.  Solitary  confinement,  when  inflicted  as 
a  punishment,  is  considered  a  very  severe  one  ;  but  these 
persons  inflict  it  on  themselves  —  living  for  years  alone, 
and  at  last  unable  to  go  out,  even  if  they  wish  to  do  so. 

So  people  who  do  not  give,  lose  at  last  the  power  of 


VOLUNTARY   AND   AUTOMATIC    MORALITY.  235 

giving.  I  have  known,  in  former  years,  many  rich  men 
who  were  absolutely  unable  to  give,  because  they  had  not 
kept  up  the  habit  of  regular  and  continued  generosity. 
The  only  way  to  escape  that  malady  —  for  it  is  a  real 
disease  —  is  to  give  away,  regularly  and  on  principle,  a 
certain  proportion  of  one's  income.  And  this  law  applies 
to  all  —  to  those  in  moderate  circumstances,  no  less  than 
to  the  wealthy.  It  was  the  man  who  had  only  a  single 
tale?it  who  hid  it  in  the  earth,  not  the  one  who  had  five. 
If  you  do  not  give  now,  when  your  means  are  small,  what 
reason  have  you  to  think  that  you  would  do  better  if  you 
were  wealthy  ?  If  every  poor  man  in  Boston  gave  accord- 
ing to  his  means,  all  the  charities  of  the  city  would  be 
amply  supplied.  Let  us  never  forget  the  epitaph  on  a 
tombstone,  which  teaches  the  true  law  on  this  subject, 
"  What  I  spent,  I  had  ;  what  I  kept,  I  lost ;  what  I  gave,  I 
have  still." 

So,  likewise,  those  who  do  not  care  to  see  the  truth,  lose 
at  last  the  power  of  seeing  it.  I  have  known  lawyers,  to 
whom  justice  and  truth  were  supreme  ;  honorable,  high- 
minded  men,  who  never  condescended  to  any  low  cunning, 
but  only  used  those  arguments  to  convince  others  which  were 
convincing  to  themselves.  The  bar  of  this  city  has  always 
had  such  lawyers  —  men  whose  wish  and  effort  it  was  "  to 
execute  justice  and  to  maintain  truth."  Such  men,  as  they 
grow  older,  grow  wiser,  stronger,  greater.  They  love  truth, 
and  truth  is  given  to  them,  and  they  have  abundance. 

But  we  have  known  others,  members  of  this  same  grand 
profession,  whose  only  object  was  to  win  their  cause,  and 
that  in  any  way.  They  said,  not  what  they  believed  true, 
but  what  they  thought  they  might  make  seem  true  to  others. 
Their  object  was,  not  to  convince;  but  to  deceive,  to  confuse, 
to  bewilder,  to  mislead,  to  win  their  cause  by  appeals  to 
prejudice,  to  ignorance,  to  passion.     And  so,  at  last,  they 


236  VOLUNTARY   AND    AUTOMATIC    MORALITY. 

confuse  their  own  sense,  and  lose  the  power  of  distinguish- 
ing between  truth  and  falsehood,  right  and  wrong.  They 
have  buried  their  talent  in  the  earth,  and  it  is  taken  from 
them. 

Truth  is  such  a  sacred  thing,  so  holy,  so  venerable,  that 
we  must  not  trifle  with  it.  In  public  speech  and  in  private 
conversation,  some  persons  talk  for  effect,  regardless  of 
accuracy.  They  say  what  will  produce  an  impression, 
assert  extraordinary  facts,  aim  at  excitement,  and  at  last//> 
unconsciously  and  automatically.  They  are  called  liars ; 
but  it  is  a  disease,  not  a  wilful  purpose.  They  do  not 
know,  at  the  time,  that  they  are  saying  what  is  not  true. 
Such  is  the  evil  which  results  from  talking  merely  for  effect, 
merely  to  produce  an  impression. 

Truth-telling  becomes  a  habit,  and  at  last  the  man 
cannot  help  telling  the  truth.  So  untruth-telling  becomes 
a  habit,  and  the  man  cannot  help  lying.  Profanity  becomes 
a  habit.  The  child  of  God,  made  by  him  for  immortality, 
and  blessed  every  day  by  his  goodness,  living  and  moving 
and  having  his  being  in  God,  goes  about  from  morning  to 
night  blaspheming  the  name  of  his  protector  and  friend, 
calling  down  damnation  on  himself,  and  profaning  every- 
thing sacred  with  oaths  and  curses.  And  perhaps  all  the 
time  he  does  not  know  that  he  is  doing  it.  This,  also,  has 
become  automatic  and  unconscious.  He  has  deadened  in 
his  soul  all  sense  of  the  reality  of  spiritual  things,  until  they 
have  become  empty  names,  with  which  he  fills  up  the  gaps 
in  his  speech  while  he  is  trying  to  think  of  something  to 
say. 

We  may  state  the  law  thus,  "Any  habitual  course  of 
conduct  changes  voluntary  actions  into  automatic  or  invol- 
untary actions."  This  can  be  illustrated  by  the  physical 
constitution  of  man.  Some  of  our  bodily  acts  are  volun- 
tary, some  involuntary ;  some,  partly  one  and  partly  the 


VOLUNTARY   AND    AUTOMATIC    MORALITY.  237 

other.  The  heart  beats  seventy  or  eighty  times  a  minute 
all  our  life  long,  without  any  will  of  ours.  Whether  we 
are  asleep,  or  awake,  the  heart  drives  the  blood,  by  its 
steadily-moving  piston,  through  all  the  arteries  and  veins, 
more  than  100,000  times  every  twenty-four  hours.  The 
heart  beats  36,000,000  times  every  year,  without  any  will 
of  ours  ;  and  if  it  suspends  or  relaxes  its  action  for  a  few 
moments,  we  faint  away,  and  become  unconscious.  If  it 
stops  its  action  for  a  minute,  we  die.  The  lungs,  in  the 
same  way,  perpetually  inhale  and  exhale  breath,  whether 
we  intend  it  or  not  ;  and  if  the  lungs  should  suspend  their 
action,  we  should  die.  But  we  can  exercise  a  little  volition 
over  the  action  of  the  lungs ;  we  can  breathe  voluntarily, 
taking  long  breaths.  Thus  the  action  of  the  lungs  is  partly 
automatic  and  partly  voluntary,  while  the  mechanical  action 
of  the  heart  is  wholly  automatic,  and  the  chemical  action 
of  the  digestive  organs  is  the  same.  But  some  acts,  volun- 
tary at  first,  become,  by  habit,  automatic.  A  child  begin- 
ning to  walk  takes  every  single  step  by  a  separate  act  of 
will ;  beginning  to  read,  he  looks  at  every  single  letter. 
After  a  while,  he  walks  and  reads  by  a  habit,  which  has 
become  involuntary.  He  does  not  exercise  a  separate  act 
of  will  in  taking  each  step  or  looking  at  each  letter.  He 
walks  and  reads,  unconscious' of  the  separate  steps  in  the 
process. 

So,  also,  it  is  with  man's  moral  and  spiritual  nature.  By 
practice  he  forms  habits,  and  habitual  action  is  automatic 
action,  requiring  no  exercise  of  will  except  at  the  beginning 
of  the  series  of  acts.     The  law  of  association  does  the  rest. 

So  to  him  who  hath  shall  be  given.  As  voluntary  acts 
are  transformed  into  automatic,  the  will  is  set  free  to  devote 
itself  to  higher  efforts  and  larger  attainments.  After  telling 
the  truth  awhile  by  an  effort  we  tell  the  truth  naturally, 
necessarily,  automatically.     After  giving  to  good  objects 


238  VOLUNTARY   AND    AUTOMATIC    MORALITY. 

for  awhile  from  principle,  we  give  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Honesty  becomes  automatic  —  the  man  who  has  cultivated 
honesty,  at  last  could  not  cheat  if  he  would.  Self-control 
becomes  automatic  —  we  rule  over  our  spirit,  repress  ill- 
temper,  keep  down  bad  feelings,  first  by  an  effort,  after- 
wards as  a  matter  of  course.  Temperance  becomes  auto- 
matic— it  costs  a  good  deal  of  effort  and  self-denial  at 
first,  but  at  last  it  takes  care  of  itself. 

Possibly  these  virtues  really  become  incarnate  in  the 
bodily  organization.  Possibly  goodness  is  made  flesh,  and 
becomes  consolidate  in  the  fibres  of  the  brain.  Vices, 
beginning  in  the  soul,  seem  to  become  at  last  bodily  dis- 
eases ;  why  may  not  virtues  follow  the  same  law  ?  One 
purpose  of  the  body  may  be  thus  to  receive  and  retain  the 
results  of  past  effort,  and  spiritual  acts  may  be  anchored 
and  accumulated  by  physical  organization.  Thus  the  body 
may  be  the  best  servant  of  the  soul,  packing  away  and 
watching  like  a  faithful  steward  all  its  master's  treasures, 
and  in  the  future  life  the  risen  or  spiritual  body  may  retain 
them  all. 

If  it  were  not  for  some  such  law  of  accumulation  as  this, 
the  work  of  life  would  have  to  be  begun  forever  anew. 
Formation  of  character  would  be  impossible.  We  should 
be  incapable  of  progress,  our  whole  strength  being  always 
employed  in  battling  with  our  first  enemies,  learning  ever- 
more anew  our  earliest  lessons.  But,  by  our  present  con- 
stitution, he  who  has  taken  one  step  can  take  another,  and 
life  may  become  a  perpetual  advance  from  good  to  better. 

This  is  the  one  and  sufficient  reward  of  all  virtue,  the 
one  sufficient  punishment  of  all  wrong-doing,  that  right 
actions  and  wrong  actions  gradually  harden  into  character. 
The  reward  of  the  good  man  is,  that  having  chosen  truth 
and  pursued  it,  it  becomes  at  last  a  part  of  his  own  nature, 
a  happy  companion  of  all  his  life.     The  condemnation  of 


VOLUNTARY    AND    AUTOMATIC    MORALITY.        239 

the  bad  man  is,  that  when  light  has  come  into  the  world 
he  has  chosen  darkness,  and  so  the  light  within  him  be- 
comes darkness.  Do  not  envy  the  bad  man's  triumphs  and 
worldly  successes.  Every  one  of  them  is  a  rivet  fastening 
him  to  evil,  making  it  more  difficult  for  him  to  return  to 
good,  making  it  impossible  but  for  the  redeeming  power  of 
God,  which  has  become  incarnate  in  Christ,  in  order  to 
seek  and  save  the  lost. 

The  highest  graces  of  all  —  faith,  hope  and  love  —  obey 
the  same  law.  By  trusting  in  God  when  we  hardly  see 
him  at  all,  we  come  at  last  to  realize,  as  by  another  sense, 
his  divine  presence  in  all  things.  By  praying  to  him  when 
we  can  only  say,  "  O,  God  !  —  if  there  be  a  God  —  save 
my  soul  —  if  I  have  a  soul,"  we  at  last  learn  to  talk  with 
this  heavenly  Friend  just  as  we  would  with  an  earthly 
friend.  And  as,  on  a  summer's  day,  when  we  sit  among 
the  pines,  though  we  do  not  see  the  wind,  nor  know  whence 
it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth,  we  yet  hear  its  silvery  voice 
above  our  heads,  and  feel  its  cool  breath  kissing  our  cheek ; 
so,  though  we  do  not  know  how  God  answers  prayer,  we 
have  the  sense  of  strength,  of  content,  of  kindly  purpose, 
of  love,  joy  and  peace,  making  our  whole  life  useful  to 
others  and  satisfactory  to  ourselves.  Faith  in  God,  at 
first  an  effort,  at  last  becomes  automatic  and  instinctive. 

Thus,  too,  faith  in  immortality  solidifies  into  an  instinct. 
As  we  live  from  and  for  infinite,  divine,  eternal  realities, 
these  become  a  part  of  our  knowledge.  Socrates  did  not 
convince  himself  of  his  immortality  much  by  his  arguments. 
But  by  spending  a  long  life  in  intimate  converse  Math  the 
highest  truths  and  noblest  ends,  he  at  last  reached  the 
point  where  he  could  not  help  believing  in  immortality. 
As  the  pure  in  heart  see  God,  so  the  pure  in  heart  also  see 
immortality.  Death  fades  away  and  becomes  nothing ;  it 
is  an  absurdity  —  an  impossibility.     "  He  who  believes  in 


24O         VOLUNTARY   AND    AUTOMATIC    MORALITY. 

me,"  said  Jesus,  "  cannot  die."  He  who  enters  into  my 
thoughts,  sympathizes  with  my  purposes,  partakes  of  my 
spirit,  knows  that  death  is  nothing.  Thus  it  is  that  Christ 
abolishes  death.  The  true  resurrection  is  rising  with  Christ 
to  a  higher  life ;  as  the  apostle  says,  "  If  ye,  then,  be  risen 
with  Christ,  seek  the  things  that  are  above." 

The  moral  of  all  this  is  evident.  Every  man,  every 
woman,  every  child  has  some  talent,  some  power,  some 
opportunity  of  getting  good  and  doing  good.  Each  day 
offers  us  some  occasion  of  using  this  talent.  As  we  use  it, 
it  gradually  increases,  improves,  becomes  native  to  the 
character.  As  we  neglect  it,  it  dwindles,  withers  and  dis" 
appears.  This  is  the  stern  but  benign  law,  by  which  we 
live.  This  makes  character  real  and  enduring  ;  this  makes 
progress  possible  :  this  turns  men  into  angels  and  virtue 
into  goodness. 

This,  at  last,  makes 

"  Love  an  unerring  light, 
And  joy  its  own  security." 


XXIIL 

SYMMETRICAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

"Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which  is 
in  Heaven  is  perfect." 

PERFECT,  in  the  New  Testament,  means  entire,  full 
complete,  all-sided.  A  perfect  man,  in  the  Christian 
sense,  is  not  one  who  has  no  fault,  no  weakness,  no  sin  ; 
but  one,  rather,  who  lives  according  to  a  perfect  idea.  He 
is  one  who  has  a  standard  which  is  not  narrow,  but  full 
and  broad  —  a  well-rounded  image  of  goodness.  He  is 
one  who  does  not  love  his  friend  and  hate  his  enemy,  but, 
like  the  heavenly  Father,  loves  his  friend  with  the  love  of 
affection,  and  his  enemy  with  the  love  of  pity.  To  be 
perfect,  in  this  sense,  is  possible  and  practicable  ;  but  to 
be  perfect  in  the  sense  of  sinlessness  is  not  possible,  so 
long  as  men  are  necessarily  ignorant,  and  subject  to  evil 
circumstances  more  or  less  beyond  their  control.  Now 
Jesus  never  commands  anything  which  cannot  be  done. 
If  he  says,  "  Be  ye  perfect,"  it  is  certain  that  we  can  be 
perfect. 

This  view  of  the  meaning  of  the  word  is  confirmed  by 
the  different  places  in  the  New  Testament  where  it  occurs. 
One  is  in  the  account  of  the  young  man  (Matthew  xix. 
21)  who  asked,  "What  good  thing  shall  I  do  that  I  may 
have  eternal  life  ? "     Jesus  told  him  to  keep  the  command- 

16  <24'> 


242  SYMMETRICAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

ments.  He  replied  he  had  always  kept  them  —  "What 
lack  I  yet  ? "  Then  Jesus  said,  "  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect, 
give  all  thou  hast  to  the  poor,  and  come  and  follow  me." 
The  meaning  evidently  is,  "  If  thou  wilt  be  complete,  not 
lacking  any  element  or  quality  of  goodness,  try  what  you 
can  do  in  poverty.  You  have  been  virtuous  in  prosperity ; 
now  see  if  you  can  bear  adversity,  hardship,  trial.  That 
will  give  you  the  sort  of  experience  which  has  been  wanting 
to  you,  and  make  your  character  round  and  full." 

So,  when  Paul  says,  "  We  speak  wisdom  among  them 
that  are  perfect,"  he  does  not  mean  those  who  are  sinless 
and  absolutely  holy,  but  those  who  have  the  intellectual 
and  the  spiritual  graces  indue  proportion  —  symmetrical 
Christians.  The  Corinthians  were  very  intelligent,  but 
their  religion  ran  to  the  head  rather  than  to  the  heart ;  so 
it  made  them  sectarians.  They  were  one-sided  Christians. 
They  could  not  bear  theology  ;  so  Paul  fed  them  with 
religion,  and  kept  theology  for  Christians  of  a  larger  expe- 
rience. 

So,  too,  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  the  same  epistle, 
"  perfect  "  is  opposed  to  "  partial."  "  We  know  in  part 
and  teach  in  part  \  but  when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come, 
that  which  is  in  part  shall  be  done  away."  That  is,  when 
the  whole  is  seen,  the  part  disappears  in  it. 

Thus,  also,  in  his  letter  to  the  Ephesians,  Paul  speaks  of 
their  becoming  perfect  men  in  knowledge  and  faith,  and 
explains  it  to  be  "  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness 
of  Christ."  This  does  not  mean  being  equal  to  Christ  in 
faith  and  knowledge,  but  to  have  the  same  kind  of  fulness 
(pleroma),  entireness,  symmetry,  that  Christ  had. 

We  are  told,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  it  became 
Jesus,  the  captain  of  our  salvation,  "  to  be  made  perfect 
through  sufferings."  If  to  be  perfect  meant  to  be  sinless, 
or  if  it  meant  to  be  infinitely  good,  as  we  mean  when  we 


SYMMETRICAL    DEVELOPMENT.  243 

call  God  a  perfect  being,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  suffering 
could  produce  either  of  these  perfections.  Suffering  could 
not  create  infinite  goodness ;  nor  could  suffering  create 
sinlessness.  Trial  and  sorrow  may  develop,  unfold  and 
strengthen  character;  but  trial  and  sorrow  cannot  create 
any  divine  elements  not  already  in  the  soul.  Human  per- 
fection may  be  unfolded  by  trial,  but  divine  perfection  not. 
Suffering  was  necessary  to  make  the  character  of  Jesus 
complete,  or,  as  it  is  expressed  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colos- 
sians,  "  perfect  and  complete  in  all  the  will  of  God." 

Did  you  ever  notice  the  frequent  exhortations  of  the 
apostles  to  this  integral,  all-sided  goodness  ?  How  they 
multiply  and  heap  up  their  lists  of  virtues  which  they  beg 
their  readers  to  cultivate  !  Peter  tells  them  to  add  to  their 
faith  virtue,  knowledge,  temperance,  patience,  godliness, 
brotherly  kindness  and  charity.  James  begs  them  to  make 
their  lives  symmetrical  by  adding  doing  to  hearing,  works 
to  fa'ith,  and  the  wisdom  which  is  pure,  peaceable,  gentle, 
easy  to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits,  without 
partiality,  without  hypocrisy.  Paul  tells  them  to  have  the 
fruits  of  the  spirit  —  love,  joy,  peace,  long  suffering,  gentle- 
ness, goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance.  Such  in- 
stances show  the  strong  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the 
apostles  that  solitary  virtues  die,  and  that  only  a  full,  com- 
plete development  has  in  it  the  promise  of  safety. 

This  whole  method  of  speaking  is  predicated  on  the  idea 
that  human  nature  can  have  a  symmetrical  development, 
every  part  of  which  is  important  to  the  integrity  of  the 
whole.  The  soul,  like  the  body,  may  have  a  partial  or  a 
full  discipline.  A  scholar  develops  his  brain,  but  not  his 
muscles  ;  the  laborer,  his  muscles,  but  not  his  brain.  One 
trade  cultivates  quickness  of  perception  in  the  eye,  another 
delicacy  of  touch.  A  true  physical  education  will  develop 
all  parts  of  the  body.     So  a  true  spiritual  education  will 


244  SYMMETRICAL    DEVELOPMENT. 

develop  all  parts  of  the  soul.  This,  then,  was  the  meaning 
of  Jesus  in  his  command  "  Be  ye  perfect."  He  meant  to  say, 
"  Be  fully  unfolded  in  your  soul"  He  commanded  a  sym- 
metrical and  full  development  of  character.  And  the  apos- 
tles, as  we  have  seen,  insist  on  the  same  duty.  James 
wishes  all  Christians  to  be  "  perfect  and  entire,  wanting 
nothing."  Paul  tells  the  Colossians  that  Epaphras,  a  fellow- 
citizen  of  theirs,  is  always  praying  for  them  that  they  "  may 
stand  perfect  and  complete  in  all  the  will  of  God." 

I  propose  to  speak  of  this  symmetrical  development  of 
the  soul,  or  integral  Christian  education ;  to  show  how 
much  we  have  lost  sight  of  it ;  how  one-sided  and  partial 
our  Christian  life  is  ;  what  the  evils  of  this  are,  and  how 
the  natural  cure  for  these  evils  will  be  found  in  a  better 
study  and  imitation  of  the  human  character  of  Christ  as 
the  ideal  standard  of  this  perfection. 

The  Scripture  says,  "  Whether  ye  eat  or  drink,  or  what- 
soever you  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God."  That  is,  put 
Christianity  into  everything  you  do.  But  into  how  small 
a  part  of  our  life  do  we  usually  put  our  Christianity  !  Some 
persons  put  it  all  into  Sunday.  They  think  Christianity 
belongs  to  the  Sabbath,  and  if  they  go  to  church  on  Sunday, 
that  is  all  that  is  asked  of  them.  Others  have  a  few  prayer- 
meetings  on  other  days  ;  they  have  family  prayers ;  they 
abstain  from  certain  amusements ;  they  use  a  certain 
sanctified  language  ;  and  that  is  all  of  their  religion.  Their 
Christianity  does  not  make  them  more  honest  in  business, 
more  generous,  kind  or  humane.  They  grind  the  poor  ; 
they  tell  lies  over  their  counter ;  they  do  a  few  things  to 
the  glory  of  God,  but  only  a  few.  Christianity  was  meant 
to  educate  the  head,  the  heart  and  the  hand  —  spirit,  soul 
and  body.  Some  Christians  confine  it  to  the  head.  It  is 
a  theory,  a  creed,  a  way  of  thinking.  Others  confine  it  to 
the  heart.     It  is  emotion,  feeling,  sentiment.     It  is  having 


SYMMETRICAL   DEVELOPMENT.  245 

a  good  warm  time  at  the  conference  meeting ;  or  else, 
perhaps,  listening  to  beautiful  sentiments,  beautiful  dis- 
courses. It  is  being  converted  or  having  a  religious  ex- 
perience ;  feeling  a  great  deal  of  sorrow  for  sin,  and  a 
great  deal  of  love  and  trust  in  Jesus  Christ.  Others  make 
Christianity  an  outward  practice  only  ;  religious  practices, 
or  going  through  ceremonies ;  moral  practices,  such  as 
paying  one's  debts,  giving  a  little  to  the  poor.  So  one 
class  of  Christians  are  moral  Christians  ;  and  another  class 
are  orthodox  Christians  ;  and  another  class  are  emotional 
Christians,  fervent  and  full  of  feeling ;  and  another  are 
churchmen,  devoted  to  the  church,  its  feasts  and  fasts  and 
ceremonies.  So  do  men  put  asunder  what  God  has  joined 
together.  Some  are  pious,  but  not  honest ;  others  honest, 
but  not  pious ;  some  are  zealous  and  narrow ;  others 
liberal,  but  cold;  some  love  God,  but  not  their  brother 
man  ;  others  love  man,  but  forget  God.  Those  who  belong 
to  the  church  are  sectarian ;  those  who  are  unsectarian  are 
indifferent  to  all  positive  religion.  They  are  so  indifferent 
that  they  would  be  willing  to  let  all  the  churches  be  closed, 
Sunday  be  abolished,  the  Bible  forgotten,  and  have  man 
live  without  God  or  hope  in  the  world.  And  this  they 
sometimes  call  being  liberal. 

Reverence  is  a  noble  virtue.  Shakspeare  calls  it  "  the 
angel  of  the  world."  It  continually  lifts  the  soul  to  that 
which  is  above  us;  to  the  ineffable  beauty,  the  perfect 
goodness,  the  infinite  majesty,  which  is  so  high,  so  far,  yet 
which  we  can  see,  love,  and  adore.  We  rise  ourselves  by 
adoring  that  which  is  better  than  we  are.  It  adds  the 
charm  of  modesty  to  our  manliness ;  it  destroys  the  vile 
habit  of  self-conceit,  of  egotism,  of  mean  vanity.  It  is  the 
one  virtue  of  the  soul  which  is  always  tending  upward  by 
its  proper  motion ;  upward  to  something  higher,  purer, 
better. 


246  SYMMETRICAL    DEVELOPMENT. 

And  yet  this  very  fervor  of  reverence,  unless  it  be  bal- 
anced by  the  opposite  fervor  of  freedom  and  self-reliance, 
of  free  individual  judgment,  tends  to  make  men  the  slaves 
of  the  vilest  superstitions.  Reverence,  alone,  blinds,  fet- 
ters, and  so  degrades  the  soul.  Unenlightened  by  personal 
intelligence,  it  becomes  abject  submission  to  whatever 
claims  respect  because  it  is  old,  or  strong,  or  terrible  ;  so 
that  which  was  ordained  for  life  becomes  death. 

There  is  another  charming  quality  which  makes  us 
ready  to  sympathize  with  every  One  around  us.  Some 
persons  seem  all  sweetness.  They  would  not  harm  a  fly 
They  are  ready  to  feel  with  you,  and  are  so  tender,  so 
trusting,  so  like  sunshine  and  summer  air,  that  they  bring 
balm  and  fragrance  into  our  life.  These  are  the  loving 
souls,  who  are  all  affection  and  good-will.  And  yet,  if 
destitute  of  the  strength  which  comes  from  conscience,  the 
firmness  created  by  the  sight  of  principles,  these  natures 
may  become  the  hardest  and  the  coldest  of  all.  Unable 
to  be  thoroughly  faithful,  because  of  their  weakness,  they 
turn  sour,  hard  and  cruel.  Thus,  love  without  truth  ceases 
to  be  love,  and  becomes  cruelty. 

On  the  other  hand,  truth  without  love  ceases  to  be  truth, 
and  becomes  a  lie.  The  cold  intellect,  divorced  from  the 
heart,  cannot  see  the  truth.  Instead  of  truth  it  sees  opin- 
ions, which  are  always  one-sided,  and  therefore  false.  The 
power  of  truth  is  not  there.  The  life  seems  to  have  gone 
out  of  it.  If  we  pursue  truth  with  our  intellect  alone, 
without  heart,  we  become  dogmatic,  bigoted,  narrow  ;  and 
at  last  believe  because  we  choose  to  believe,  not  because 
we  really  see  the  truth.  So  that  we  become  liars  at  last 
from  a  one-sided  truthfulness. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  essentially  a  church  of  senti- 
ment. It  aims  at  adapting  itself  to  all  the  wants  of  men  ; 
of  suiting  itself  to  every  human  need.     It  has.  organised 


SYMMETRICAL    DEVELOPMENT.  247 

"  good-will  to  man  "  into  a  system,  and  has  carried  it  on 
by  machinery.  It  has  excluded  free  thought  and  enslaved 
the  intellect,  lest  these  should  do  harm.  So  at  last  from 
love  it' has  committed  the  most  atrocious  cruelties  ;  burnt 
alive  thousands  of  martyrs,  and  laid  all  Europe  waste.  Its 
love,  divorced  from  truth,  has  become  hatred. 

Protestanism  was  born  in  the  determinatian  to  be  true 
to  conscience.  It  wished  to  see  with  its  own  eyes,  to 
exercise  its  own  mind,  to  say  only  what  it  really  saw.  It 
made  private  judgment  its  motto.  But  thus  it  became  too 
intellectual,  and  doctrinal  ;  it  lost  the  sense  of  unity,  of 
brotherly  love ;  then  fell  into  divisions  and  disputes,  and 
finally  exaggerated  its  dogmas  till  they  hardened  into  the 
iron  creed  of  Calvinism,  and  the  truth  of  God  was  changed 
into  terrible  falsehoods.  Truth  divorced  from  love  be- 
comes a  lie. 

Perhaps  we  may  now  see  why  Jesus  and  his  apostles 
insisted  on  that  perfect  development  of  the  soul  which  is 
complete  and  entire,  wanting  nothing.  We  may  also  see 
why  faith  in  Jesus  himself,  in  his  perfect  human  character, 
as  the  fulness,  the  pleroma  of  humanity,  is  an  essential 
element  in  progress.  We  need  a  standard  of  complete 
human  excellence.  Jesus  has  come,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  to  be  that  standard.  Of  his  fulness,  says  the  apostle, 
we  have  all  received,  and  grace  upon  grace.  The  virtues 
of  each  age  are  one-sided  — every  period,  every  party  has 
its  fashion  of  goodness,  its  own  temporary  ideal.  At  one 
period  Christianity  is  made  to  consist  in  ascetic  sacrifices 
and  monkish  self-denial.  In  another  it  is  placed  in  the 
study  of  truth,  the  desire  for  intellectual  development.  In 
another  it  is  humanity,  philanthropy,  doing  all  the  good  we 
can  to  our  fellow-men.  In  another  it  is  piety,  mystical 
raptures  of  the  soul,  lost  in  the  sight  of  things  eternal. 
Sometimes  the   fashion  is  Ritualism,  laying  great  stress 


24«  SYMMETRICAL    DEVELOPMENT. 

on  ceremonies  and  forms.  Sometimes  it  is  the  sight  of 
sin  and  pardon.  Men  are  so  narrow  that  they  run  from 
one  extreme  to  the  opposite.  Hence  they  need  the  con- 
stant presence  of  one  ideal  form,  an  ideal  yet  a  reality ;  a 
historic  man  who  has  actually  lived,  and  yet  an  ideal  man, 
the  manifestation  of  God's  fulness. 

The  peculiarity  of  the  life  of  Jesus  is  that  he  carried 
each  grace  and  virtue  of  human  nature  to  its  perfection  by 
uniting  it  with  its  opposite.  His  piety  was  perfect  piety 
because  joined  with  as  perfect  a  humanity.  He  was  a 
true  conservative,  saving  all  that  was  good  in  the  past, 
because  he  was  a  true  reformer,  opening  all  the  windows 
of  the  soul  to  the  coming  day  of  a  better  future.  He  was 
most  tender  to  the  sinner,  because  most  sensible  of  the 
awful  evil  of  sin.  He  who  said,  "  Neither  do  I  condemn 
thee  ;  go,  and  sin  no  more,"  also  said  that  it  were  better 
to  cut  off  a  right  hand  than  let  it  tempt  another  to  wrong 
doing.  He  saw  the  glories  of  the  coming  future,  because 
he  saw  so  well  the  darkness  of  the  present.  Not  deceived 
about  man's  present  weakness  and  sinfulness,  he  yet 
believed  in  his  ultimate  triumph  over  all  sin.  He  called 
Peter  a  saltan,  and  yet  told  him,  when  converted,  to 
strengthen  his  brethren.  He  told  him  that  he  would  deny 
his  Master  three  times  that  very  night,  and  yet  confided  to 
his  care  his  sheep  and  his  lambs.  He  was  severe  to  the 
sin,  but  tender  to  the  sinner.  Giving  his  life  for  mankind, 
he  also  had  his  personal  friends ;  for  his  friendship  was 
not  lost  in  his  philanthropy.  To  one  grand,  unchanging 
purpose  he  devoted  his  life,  yet  he  carefully  watched  all 
the  circumstances  ;  and  with  this  inflexible  aim  he  joined 
a  patient  choice  of  means.  He  lived  in  eternity,  yet 
understood  the  value  of  time,  knowing  that  there  are  only 
twelve  hours  in  which  one  can  work.  He  uttered  the 
loftiest  abstract  truths  which  ever  fell  from  human  lips, 


SYMMETRICAL    DEVELOPMENT.  249 

yet  condescended  to  tell  simple  stories  to  those  who  could 
not  understand  his  meaning  without  these  homely  illus- 
trations. Perfectly  free,  unbound  by  traditions,  he  never- 
theless reverenced  the  usages  of  his  people  — went  to  the 
feasts  and  conformed  to  all  innocent  customs.  The  Sa- 
viour of  mankind,  he  was  also  a  patriot,  loving  his  own 
nation,  and  shedding  tears  over  the  coming  destruction  of 
Jerusalem.  So  we  find  in  him  represented  all  the  sides 
of  human  life,  all  the  elements  of  human  character;  an 
integral  manhood,  perfect  and  entire,  wanting  nothing. 
But  this  is  so  harmoniously  grown  out  of  one  centre  of 
life  that  the  unity  of  person  is  complete  in  this  variety  of 
manifestation.  He  puts  himself  wholly  into  everything 
he  says,  into  everything  he  does.  He  does  not  at  one 
time  express  love  to  God,  and  at  another  love  to  man  \  but 
his  piety  is  always  humanity,  and  his  humanity  is  always 
piety. 

And,  therefore,  Jesus  is  not  merely  a  model  to  be 
imitated,  but  an  inspiration  to  become  a  part  of  our  life. 
It  is  not  merely  by  copying  him  that  we  obtain  his  fulness, 
but  by  loving  him  and  following  him.  His  fulness  of 
character  proceeded  from  the  depth  of  his  life.  We  become 
perfect  and  entire,  wanting  nothing,  when  that  life  of 
Christ  becomes  our  life,  by  our  faith  in  Christ  and  our 
love  to  him,  so  that  we  may  say,  "  The  life  I  now  live,  I 
live  by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God." 

There  is  nothing  mystical  in  this,  more  than  that  all  of 
human  life  works  mysteriously.  .  An  eminent  teacher  al- 
ways puts  his  own  impression  on  his  pupils,  not  because 
they  consciously  copy  him,  but  because  through  love  they 
imbibe  unconsciously  his  spirit,  and  live  by  his  life.  This 
is  the  essence  of  true  discipleship.  The  true  master  is  he 
who  does  not  claim  authority,  but  exercises  influences; 
who   makes  us   not  his   servants,   but  his  friends;   who 


25O  SYMMETRICAL    DEVELOPMENT. 

teaches  by  his  total  being,  and  inspires  by  all  his  life. 
This  is  the  way  in  which  we  are  most  helped  by  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  not  when  we  believe  these  or  those  opinions 
about  him,  not  when  we  deliberately  adopt  certain  rules  of 
living  deduced  from  his  words,  not  when  we  consciously 
obey  his  commands.  These  indeed  are  good  and  useful, 
but  the  best  of  all  is  to  come  to  love  and  trust  in  him  as 
the  divine  light  in  human  history,  and  so  by  faith  and 
affection  to  be  changed  into  his  likeness.  This  is  what 
the  apostle  meant  when  he  said,  We  all,  as  in  a  glass,  with 
open  face,  beholding  the  glory  of  the  Master,  are  changed 
into  the  same  image,  from  one  glory  to  another,  as  if  by 
the  influence  of  the  Master's  spirit. 

This  kind  of  spiritual  influence  we  often  call  magnetism, 
unconsciously  adopting  an  illustration  of  Plato  in  the 
dialogue  called  "  Ion."  In  this  dialogue  Socrates  says  that 
poetry  is  not  an  art,  but  an  inspiration.  He  says  there  is 
a  divinity  moving  you,  like  the  stone  which  Euripides  call- 
ed a  magnet,  which  not  Only  attracts  iron  rings,  but  gives 
them  the  power  of  attracting  other  iron  rings.  Thus  you 
may  sometimes  see  a  number  of  rings  suspended  one  from 
another,  so  as  to  form  a  long  chain,  all  of  them  deriving 
their  power  from  the  original  stone.  The  original  stone  is 
the  Muse,  says  Socrates,  who  inspires  her  poets,  who  again 
inspire  others,  and  make  poets  of  them.  "Fop  the  poet," 
he  continues,  "  is  a  light  and  winged  and  holy  thing,  and 
there  is  no  invention  in  him  till  he  has  been  inspired  ; 
and  then,  like  the  bees,  who  go  to  Hymettus,  he  wings  his 
way  to  the  honeyed  gardens  and  fountains  of  the  Muses." 

When  Christians  return  to  Jesus,  himself,  and  take  his 
life  as  the  source  of  their  inspiration,  they  will  escape  the 
evils  of  a  one-sided  Christianity.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  make  ceremonies  and  rituals  essential  if  we  looked  to 
Jesus,  and  saw  his  radical  contempt  for  mere  forms- — for 


SYMMETRICAL   DEVELOPMENT.  25  I 

religious  costumes,  broad  phylacteries,  and  the  repetition 
of  prayers.  But  now,  great  zeal  for  worship,  for  religious 
ceremonies,  for  church  usages,  passes  for  religion.  Thus 
we  have  had,  this  last  week,  an  example  of  a  man,  who, 
while  he  was  committing  forgery,  and  inflicting  ruin  on 
hundreds  of  people,  in  order  to  accumulate  plunder  by 
this  wholesale  robbery,  was  preaching  and  praying  and  im- 
agining himself  a  Christian.  This  was  because,  among 
his  associates,  Christianity  was  supposed  to  consist  in  pray- 
ing and  preaching  and  emotions  of  piety. 

But  there  have  always  been  religious  hypocrites,  who 
have  deceived  men  by  an  outward  show  of  emotional  piety. 
In  our  times  there  has  sprung  up  another  class  of  hypo- 
crites, who  have  cheated  under  the  cloak  of  philanthropy. 
We  have  had  men  in  Boston  who  imposed  on  philanthro- 
pists by  pretending  to  be  interested  in  humane  enterprises, 
and  contrived  to  steal  their  money  under  this  philanthrop- 
ic sheep-skin. 

And  so,  too,  in  public  life,  we  have  been  suffering  from 
men  who  thought  that,  because  they  had  been  leaders  in 
the  movements  for  human  freedom  and  emancipation, 
that  they  might  steal  public  money  and  commit  all  sorts  of 
private  villany.  We  have  had  men  who,  though  perfectly 
ignorant  of  finance  and  of  political  economy,  have  under- 
taken to  teach,  from  their  inner  consciousness,  what  the 
national  currency  should  be.  Because  they  had  zeal,  they 
thought  they  could  dispense  with  knowledge  ;  because  they 
knew  how  to  manage  private  business,  they  thought  they 
could  carry  on  public  affairs. 

It  is  a  law  of  human  nature  that  all  high  qualities  are 
composed  of  antagonist  elements.  To  make  a  perfect 
man  or  a  perfect  woman,  there  is  needed  a  various  experi- 
ence. The  mind  needs  to  be  widened  as  well  as  sharp- 
ened, and  the  soul  of  man,  in  its  large  capacity,  is  fed  by 


252  SYMMETRICAL    DEVELOPMENT. 

various  food.  It  wants  both  work  and  play,  sorrow  and 
joy,  success  and  disappointment,  inspiration  and  discipline, 
art  and  nature,  society  and  solitude,  self-reliance  and  God- 
reliance.  So  only  do  we  grow  up  to  the  stature  of  the 
perfect  man. 


XXIV. 

THE  PERSONAL  EQUATION  IN  RELIGION. 

"  The  people,  therefore,  who  stood  by  and  heard,  said  that 
it  thundered  j  others  said,  an  angel  spake  to  him." 

IN  astronomy,  the  small  corrections  which  must  be 
made  to  the  results  of  the  simple  law  to  secure  accu- 
rate predictions  are  called  equations.  One  of  these  cor- 
rections depends  on  the  difference  in  the  observing  power 
of  different  individuals.  One  man  will  note  with  more  ac- 
curacy than  another  the  precise  moment  when  any  phenom- 
enon occurs.  After  all  other  corrections  are  made  to  the 
fact  seen,  another  must  be  added  on  account  of  this  pecu- 
liarity in  the  person  seeing  it.  This  is  called  the  "personal 
equation." 

I  propose  to  speak  of  what  may  be  called  the  personal 
equation  in  religion. 

On  the  occasion  to  which  our  motto  refers,  some  Greeks 
had  asked  to  see  Jesus.  This  request  produced  a  singular 
effect  on  the  mind  of  the  Master.  He  seemed  to  see,  in 
their  coming  to  him,  the  evidence  of  a  tendency  in  other 
races  outside-  of  Judaism  to  accept  the  spiritual  truths 
which  he  had  to  teach.  He  saw,  at  the  same  moment, 
that  his  was  to  be  a  universal  religion,  and  that  he  must 
die  in  order  that  it  should  come.  Not  around  the  person 
of  a  living  Jesus  could  Greeks  and  Romans  unite,  but 
around  his  truth,  after  he  had  gone  up.     Not  around  a 

(253) 


254        THE    PERSONAL    EQUATION    IN   RELIGION. 

Jewish  Messiah,  but  around  an  ascended  prophet,  men 
may  come  together.  "  Ought  I,  then,"  said  Jesus,  "  to  re- 
fuse to  die,  when,  this  very  object  for  which  I  came  can 
only  be  accomplished  by  my  death.  Let  God's  truth  be 
glorified,  whether  I  live  or  die."  Then  happened  some- 
thing —  we  know  not  what ;  some  sound  in  the  air  —  some 
sudden  commotion  in  the  elements  —  a  rushing  breeze  —  a 
low  roll  of  thunder.  To  Jesus  it  was  the  voice  of  God.  It 
was  God's  answer,  "  I  will,"  to  his  prayer.  Yes,  just  as 
God  is  glorified,  whether  by  the  roar  of  thunder  or  the 
tender  sunshine,  as  His  will  is  done  by  storm  or  calm,  so 
should  the  life  or  death  of  Jesus  equally  glorify  the  Father. 
His. life  had  glorified  God  ;  his  death  should  also  glorify 
him.  To  the  common  people  it  was  thunder,  and  nothing 
more  ;  to  the  affectionate  disciples,  watching  the  changing 
expression  of  their  Master's  face,  it  seemed  that  some 
angel  was  speaking  to  him.  To  Jesus  himself,  who  saw  in 
all  the  works  of  God  and  all  the  events  of  life  a  spiritual 
meaning,  it  signified  that  all  was  well ;  life  or  death,  storm 
or  calm,  seeming  failure  or  apparent  success,  all  should 
glorify  God. 

So  it  is  that  different  people,  listening  to  the  same  thing, 
hear  different  things.  The  personal  equation  must  always 
be  considered.  We  must  hear,  not  onjy  with  our  ears,  but 
with  our  minds,  in  order  to  hear  aright.  That  which  is  in 
our  mind  determines  what  we  hear  with  our  ears. 

Two  men  are  listening  to  a  piece  of  music.  One  hears 
in  the  music  the  soul  of  the  composer  speaking  in  lan- 
guage of  divine  melody.  While  he  listens  he  is  caught  up 
to  the  seventh  heaven,  and,  like  Paul,  hears  unutterable 
things.  The  other  has  no  ear  for  music,  and  so  he  ob- 
serves nothing  but  a  tumult  of  sound.  One  hears  an  angel 
speaking  to  him  ;  the  other  only  hears  thunder. 

Two  persons  are  listening  to  a  speaker.     It  is,  perhaps, 


THE    PERSONAL   EQUATION    IN    RELIGION.         255 

Fenelon  who  speaks  ;  or  Channing.  They  utter,  in  lan- 
guage of  the  deepest  conviction,  the  loftiest  aspirations  of 
the  human  soul.  One  of  these  hearers  has  his  mind  at- 
tuned to  this  celestial  strain.  It  animates  him  with  new 
life,  it  awakens  new  hopes,  it  creates  new  convictions,  it 
feeds  his  heart.  The  thoughts  of  the  other  listener  are  of 
the  earth,  earthy.  His  soul  has  never  been  awakened  to 
the  sight  of  great  truths  ;  he  has  lived  only  to  eat  and 
drink  and  sleep.  One,  therefore,  hears  an  angel ;  the 
other  only  hears  thunder. 

In  like  manner,  men,  looking  at  the  same  things,  see 
different  things.  The  personal  equation  makes  the  differ- 
ence. 

Several  travellers,  journeying  together,  reach  the  sum- 
mit of  a  hill,  and  look  clown  into  a  valley  stretching  far 
away  before  them.  One  is  an  artist,  and  he  sees  the  pic- 
turesque character  of  the  scene.  He  sees  foreground, 
middle  distance  and  background.  He  notices  lights  and 
shadows  ;  lovely  streaks  of  sunshine  on  the  green  meadow ; 
black  shadows  on  the  hills.  Another  is  a  lumberer.  He 
notices  the  timber,  and  can  tell  you  its  quality  and  value. 
A  third  is  a  geologist,  and  he  sees  the  stratification  of  the 
rocks,  the  terraces  deposited  by  the  retiring  waters,  or 
marks  of  glacial  action.  A  fourth  is  a  general,  and  he 
notices  at  a  glance  the  strategic  points,  the  commanding 
summits,  the  opportunities  for  moving  cavalry  and  in- 
fantry. Still  another  is  a  historian,  and  to  him  the  land- 
scape is  living  with  recollections  of  the  pasf.  This  is  the 
place  where  heroes  gave  their  lives  for  their  country  ;  this 
ground  is  hallowed  by  their  courageous  devotion  and  their 
noble  death.  Meantime,  the  horses  of  these  travellers  no- 
tice nothing  but  the  grass. 

People  differ  from  each  other  in  original,  organization, 
in  education,  in  circumstances  and  habits  of  mind.     All 


256         THE   PERSONAL   EQUATION    IN    RELIGION. 

these  differences  make  them  see  and  hear  differently.  And 
what  is  true  in  everything  else  is  also  true  in  religion. 
The  personal  element  is  to  be  taken  into  account  here, 
also. 

Some  persons,  in  contemplating  nature,  see  nothing  in 
it  but  matter  and  motion,  force  and  law.  Others  see  God. 
They  say : 

"  These,  as  they  change,  Almighty  Father,  these 
Are  but  the  varied  God  ;  the  rolling  year 
Is  full  of  thee." 

Those  who  see  God  in  nature  look  with  anger  on  the 
others,  as  though  they  were  wilfully  ignorant,  willingly 
blind.  Atheism  seems  to  them  not  only  a  misfortune,  but 
a  sin.  But  it  may  be  an  original  defect  —  the  deficiency  of 
the  religious  faculties  in  their  organization.  You  do  not 
blame  me  because  I  have  no  ear  for  music  —  you  pity  me. 
It  is  not  my  fault,  but  my  misfortune.  So,  if  a  man  cannot 
see  the  divine  and  infinite  element  in  finite  things,  that 
may  be  his  misfortune — a  result  of  defective  organization, 
or  the  habit  of  looking  only  at  outward  sensible  objects  ; 
and,  if  so,  he  is  to  be  pitied,  not  blamed. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  see  only  force  and  matter 
in  nature  often  treat  with  contempt  those  who  see  more. 
A  religious  man  is  to  them  either  a  fool  or  a  knave.  He 
is  a  hypocrite,  pretending  to  believe  what  is  incredible 
and  impossible.  But  this  is  as  if  I,  who  have  no  ear  for 
music,  should  look  with  contempt  on  all  musical  people, 
ridicule  them  for  going  to  operas  and  concerts,  and  con- 
sider them  to  be  hypocrites  pretending  to  find  pleasure  in 
a  jingle  of  sounds.  Such  behavior  on  my  part  would  be 
absurd.  Since,  in  all  times  and  all  lands,  the  majority  of 
people  have  professed  to  enjoy  music  and  esteem  it  a  high 
art,  I  ought  to  say  that  the  small  minority  to  which  I  be- 


THE   PERSONAL   EQUATION    IN    RELIGION.  v     257 

long,  who  see  nothing  of  all  this,  are  probably  deficient  in 
our  organization.  Just  so  the  man  who  sees  nothing  di- 
vine in  nature,  and  finds  no  God  there,  should  consider 
that,  in  all  times  and  lands,  the  great  majority  of  men 
have  worshipped  the  invisible,  have  adored  something 
above  nature  —  some  divine  power,  behind  all  causes,  as 
first  cause  ;  before  all  history,  as  its  origin ;  below  all  be- 
ing, as  its  support  ;  within  all  life,  as  its  efficient  motive. 
The  probability,  therefore,  is  that  those  who  do  not  feel 
this  instinct  are  defective  in  their  organization  on  that 
side. 

Perhaps  the  atheist  may  say,  the  belief  in  God  is  not  a 
question  of  instinct  and  desire,  but  of  truth  or  falsehood. 
No  matter  what  our  instincts  are,  we  ought  not  to  believe 
in  God,  unless  we  see  good  evidence  of  his  existence  and 
providence. 

True,  we  ought  not  to  believe  in  God,  the  soul  and  im- 
mortality, without  evidence.  But  there  are  different  kinds 
of  evidence  ;  different  objects  are  perceived  by  different 
organs.  Visible  objects  are  perceived  by  the  eye,  audible 
objects  by  the  ear,  flavors  are  perceived  by  the  taste, 
odors  by  the  smell.  So  mathematical  facts  are  perceived 
by  the  mathematical  faculty,  musical  facts  by  the  musical 
faculty  ;  past  events  are  perceived  by  the  memory,  future 
events  by  hope  and  imagination.  When  the  apostle,  there- 
fore, says  that  spiritual  things  are  spiritually  discerned,  he 
speaks  in  harmony  with  all  experience.  Just  'as  visible 
things  are  optically  discerned,  and  sounds  are  audibly  dis- 
cerned, so  spiritual  things  are  discerned  by  the  spiritual 
faculty.  When  that  faculty  is  depressed  or  defective,  spir- 
itual '  realities  do  not  appear  vivid  and  substantial,  but 
vague  and  shadowy. 

Every  phenomenon,  every  fact,  every  law,  has  its  owny 
kind  of  evidence.  You  cannot  prove  the  reality  of  the  outer 

17 


258  THE   PERSONAL    EQUATION    IN    RELIGION. 

world  by  logic  or  reasoning  —  you  perceive  it  by  the  senses. 
You  cannot  prove  the  existence  of  the  spiritual  world  by 
reasoning  —  you  perceive  that  by  inward  consciousness. 
Sight  is  the  evidence  of  things  seen  ;  faith  is  the  evidence 
of  things  not  seen.  And  by  faith,  in  Scripture,  is  never 
meant  the  belief  of  a  proposition,  but  always  active  trust  in 
spiritual  realities. 

The  more  we  exercise  the  spiritual  faculty,  the  more  cer- 
tain do  spiritual  things  become.  He  who  habitually  obeys 
conscience  sees,  more  and  more  clearly,  the  eternal  dis- 
tinction between  right  and  wrong.  He  who  habitually  dis- 
obeys his  conscience,  at  last  can  hardly  discern  any  law  of 
duty.  To  him  who  constantly  looks  forward,  with  trust,  to 
a  future  life,  immortality  becomes  more  and  more  certain. 
The  pure  in  heart,  who  habitually  look  up  to  a  heavenly 
ideal,  of  goodness,  see  God  more  and  more.  He  who  trusts 
in  providence,  comes  at  last  to  stand  so  firmly  on  that  rock, 
that  no  doubt  can  disturb,  no  disappointment  shake  his 
confidence  that  all  things  are  working  together  for  ultimate 
good. 

Man  has  faculties  by  which  he  perceives  God,  duty  and 
immortality.  But  these  faculties  must  be  exercised,  or 
they  lose  their  power.  If  one  should  live  in  a  dark  room, 
and  cease  to  use  his  eyes  for  a  long  time,  at  last  he  would 
lose  the  power  of  discriminating  objects.  To  distinguish 
objects  by  the  sight  is  an  art.  To  the  infant,  all  things 
seem  painted  on  the  retina,  and  the  moon  seems  as  near 
as  his  mother's  face.  He  learns  to  distinguish  sizes  and 
distances  by  practice.  If  the  eye  was  not  used  at  all,  it 
might  at  last  shrink  up  and  disappear,  like  the  eyes  of  the 
sightless  fish  in  the  solid  darkness  of  the  Mammoth -Cave. 
So,  if  a  man  does  not  use  his  spiritual  powers  at  all,  he 
gradually  loses  the  power  of  distinguishing  between  matter 
and  spirit,  time  and  eternity,  nature  and  God. 


THE    PERSONAL   EQUATION    IN    RELIGION  259 

Law  is  a  noble  profession.  If  a  lawyer  makes  himself 
the  servant  of  right,  the  advocate  of  justice,  then  he  be- 
comes a  minister  of  God  on  earth.  He  can  protect  the 
weak,  restrain  the  powerful,  and  pluck  the  prey  from  the 
jaws  of  the  wicked.  But  if  he  makes  of  law  only  a  trade,  by 
which  to  make  money,  sharpening  his  wit  to  put  black  for 
white,  making  it  his  ambition  to  confuse  witnesses  and  de- 
ceive the  jury,  then,  at  last,  he  is  punished  by  losing  the 
power  of  seeing  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong, 
truth  and  falsehood.  Reason,  the  divine  light  in  the  soul, 
is  dimmed  by  sophistry.  He  may  be  as  keen,  bright,  smart 
as  you  please  ;  but  the  higher  light  within  him  is  darkness. 
Take  his  opinion,  if  you  will,  on  the  best  way  of  getting  a 
verdict  in  a  bad  case.  But  what  is  such  a  man's  opinion 
worth  on  a  question  of  conscience,  honor  or  religion  ?  Take 
into  account  the  personal  equation,  and  you  see  that  it  is 
good  for  nothing.' 

Public  life  and  political  action  is  a  sphere  for  grand 
achievement.  The  happiness  of  millions  depends  on  wise 
laws,  faithfully  administered.  A  slight  alteration  in  a  tariff 
may  make  the  difference  between  the  comfort  and  want  of 
thousands.  A  law  allowing  too  great  an  expansion  of  cur- 
rency may  promote  wild  speculation,  followed  by  panic  and 
ruin.  A  legislator  who  goes  to  his  work  with  thorough 
training  and  knowledge,  may  be  a  great  benefactor  to  his 
race.  Bat  suppose  the  majority  of  members  of  Congress 
are  mere  trading  politicians,  creeping  up  to  power  by  low 
ways,  where  an  honorable  man  disdains  to  climb.  The  ele- 
vation of  such  men,  however  brilliant  and  popular  they  may 
be,  is  a  disaster  to  the  country.  Such  men,  giving'  all  their 
time  to  personal  ends  and  selfish  ambition,  at  last  lose  the 
power  of  seeing  the  true  issues  of  the  hour.  They  flatter 
the  passion  of  the  moment,  and  are  ignorant  of  the  solemn 
destinies  depending  on  their  voice  and  vote. 


^vr     260      t: 


THE    PERSONAL    EQUATION    IN    RELIGION. 

I  think,  considering  the  ignorant  way  in  which  laws  are 
passed  by  Congress,  that  the  principles  of  the  civil  service 
examination  ought  to  be  applied  to  it,  and  no  man  should 
be  admitted  to  Congress  till  he  has  passed  an  examination 
in  some  standard  works  on  political  economy,  constitutional 
and  international  law,  social  science,  and  history. 

Ignorance  in  some  situations  is  a  crime.  An  incapable 
person,  taking  a  place  for  which  he  is  unfitted,  commits  a 
grave  offense.  Jesus  found  fault  with  the  Pharisees  be- 
cause they  could  discern  the  face  of  the  sky,  and  tell  what 
sort  of  weather  it  was  likely  to  be  the  next  day,  but  could 
not  discern  the  signs  of  the  times.  It  was  their  duty  to 
study  the  signs  of  the  times  as  faithfully  as  they  studied 
material  interests,  and  they  did  not  care  to  do  it.  Their 
ignorance  was  a  sin. 

Theology,  the  science  of  divine  truth,  is  the  queen  of  all 
other  sciences,  when  it  is  regarded  aright.  But  sectarian 
theology,  which  seeks  only  to  build  up  a  party — controver- 
sial theology,  which  sets  fellow  Christians  at  war — these 
make  men's  minds  narrow,  cold  and  hard.  I  know  no 
worse  influence  than  that  exercised  by  purely  sectarian  pul- 
pits and  a  purely  sectarian  press.  They  substitute  hatred, 
jealousy,  envy,  spiritual  pride,  for  love,  peace,  long-sufTering 
and  humility.  I  read  an  address,  delivered  the  other 
evening,  at  the  great  Roman  Catholic  meeting  in  this  city, 
in  which  the  object  of  the  speaker  was,  apparently,  to  stim- 
ulate the  party  spirit  of  his  denomination,  and  fortify  their 
self-esteem,  and  their  contempt  for  their  fellow-Christians. 
He  might  have  urged  brotherly  love,  gentleness,  and  good- 
will towards  Protestants.  But  instead  of  that,  he  told  them 
to  contend  for  their  own  rights  and  privileges,  and  to  show 
by  their  demeanour  that  they  alone  "  were  capable  of  ful- 
filling the  functions  of  a  freeman."  He  told  them  to  act 
as  those  who  belong  to  *  the  only  church  which  is  support- 


THE    PERSONAL    EQUATION    IN    RELIGION.         26l 

ed  by  reason  and  logic,"  and  "  the  only  church  which  is 
worthy  the  allegiance  of  a  gentleman." 

u  He  who  loves  his  sect  more  than  he  loves  Christian- 
ity," says  Coleridge,  "will  love  Christianity  more  than 
truth,  and  end  by  loving  himself  most  of  all."  In  sectarian 
theologians,  the  personal  equation  is  very  large.  Every 
opinion  they  have  is  biased  by  it ;  they  look  at  everything 
from  the  point  of  view  of  their  church  and  its  interests. 
To  build  up  their  church  becomes  the  great  object  of  their 
lives.  What  are  such  men's  judgments  worth  on  the  sub- 
ject of  popular  education,  scientific  discovery,  the  treat- 
ment of  criminals,  or  the  like  ?  It  is  all  looked  at  in  the 
interest  of  sect,  creed,  party.  Such  men  opposed  the  anti- 
slavery  reform ;  they  now  oppose  the  elevation  of  women, 
and  similar  movements.  They  do  not  discover  the  signs 
of  the  times  any  more  than  the  Pharisees  did.  They  can  tell 
if  to-morrow  is  to  be  a  fair  or  foul  day  for  their  own  church, 
but  not  whether  it  is  to  be  fair  or  foul  for  mankind  and  the 
world  and  for  the  church  universal,  for  they  care  for  none 
of  these  things.  Thank  God,  there  are  now,  and  always 
have  been,  in  every  denomination,  a  different  class  —  theolo- 
gians who  have  risen  above  creed,  sect,  party  ;  and  are  ser- 
vants of  the  truth,  with  minds  open  to  all  that  God's  spirit 
may  teach.  These  are  the  heralds  of  the  universal  church 
of  God  and  man.  A^f^yLS   6u**«L*£^  ^.~^ 

Things  look  differently  to  one  at  rest  and  to  one  in 
motion.  What  astronomers  call  "  the  aberration  of  light," 
and  have  to  make  allowance  for,  is  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  earth  is  in  motion.  We  do  not  see  the  stars  exactly 
where  we  should  see  them  if  the  earth  were  at  rest.  If  I 
am  running  during  a  shower,  when  the  drops  are  really 
falling  perpendicularly,  they  seem  to  fall  obliquely.  If  I 
throw  something  from  a  car-window  when  the  car  is 
moving,  it  falls  obliquely,  but  seems  to  fall  perpendicular- 


262         THE   PERSONAL   EQUATION    IN    RELIGION. 

ly.  There  is,  therefore,  the  equation  of  motion,  which  has 
to  be  attended  to,  in  physical  science.  ■   . 

So  in  morals,  there  is  an  aberration  of  light  caused  by 
our  own  motion.  When  we  are  full  of  business,  going  to 
and  fro,  actively  engaged  in  our  work,  there  is  very  little 
power  to  listen  to  the  deeper  voices  of  the  soul.  "  Stand 
still,  and  consider  the  works  of  God,"  says  the  Book  of 
Job.  "  Stand  thou  still  awhile,"  says  the  Prophet  Samuel, 
"  that  I  may  show  thee  the  word  of  God."  "  Now  stand 
still,  that  I  may  reason  with  you,"  is  another  practical  sug- 
gestion. When  men  are  moving  about,  they  can  hardly 
hear  the  voice  of  man — how  much  less  the  voice  of  God ! 
A  man  who  knows  how  to  travel  does  not  rush  hastilyfrom 
place  to  place,  but  takes  time  enough,  so  that  everything 
may  make  an.  impression,  and  leave  some  permanent  ex- 
perience. 

The  Quakers  have  always  believed  that,  to  see  divine 
truth,  quiet  is  necessary.  We  must  be  still  in  order  to  hear 
the  voice  of  God  in  our  souls.  If  we  are  still,  and  shut  out 
external  influences  ;  divine  inspiration  will  flow  in  always, 
to  tell  us  what  to  believe  and  what  to  do. 

For  the  same  reason,  we  have,  in  all  Christian  lands, 
set  apart  the  first  day  of  the  week  as  a  day  of  rest  for  body 
and  mind.  On  this  day  we  can  u  stand  still,  and  consider 
the  works  of  God."  The  rest  of  this  day  would  be  a  bless- 
ing, if  it  only  gave  a  pause  to  the  roaring  flood  of  inces- 
sant labor ;  but  it  is  more  a  blessing  that  in  this  sacred 
human  quiet  man  can  better  see  God,  truth,  duty  and  im- 
mortality, and  go  back  to  his  toil  refreshed  by  this  great 
vision. 

Heat,  no  less  than  motion,  is  an  element  to  be  taken 
into  account  in  all  measures  of  space  or  time.  Heat 
changes  the  size  of  bodies,  and  their  rate  of  movement,  and 
has  to  be  allowed  for.     So  heat  enters  into  the  personal 


THE    PERSONAL   EQUATION    IN    RELIGION.         263 

equation  in  the  form  of  passion.  We  cannot  judge  can- 
didly or  fairly  of  any  question,  when  our  feelings  are  ex- 
cited about  it. 

Wars  between  nations,  with  all  their  misery,  loss  of  life, 
loss  of  property,  often  result  from  the  'blinding  influence  of 
passion.  When  a  dispute  arises  between  two  nations,  each 
looks  only  at  its  own  rights  and  its  own  supposed  wrongs. 
"A  little  rubbing,"  says  Thomas  Burnet,  "produces  light ; 
a  hard  knock  strikes  fire."  Then  comes  hasty  and  desola- 
ting war,  with  all  its  cruel  evils.  Happy  is  the  nation  which 
at  such  a  time  has  wise  men,  true  statesmen,  at  the  head  of 
affairs,  who  will  not  yield  to  the  popular  passion,  but  guide 
it  and  restrain  it,  and  enlighten  it. 

A  strong  faith  in  immortality  depends,  in  no  small 
degree,  on  the  character  of  the  individual.  To  some  men 
it  were  harder  not  to  believe  in  a  future  life  than  to  believe 
in  it.  The  majority  of  mankind,  as  history  shows,  are 
made  with  a  tendency  to  believe  in  a  hereafter.  It  was 
not  any  argument  for  immortality  which  convinced  Greeks 
and  Romans,  Egyptians,  the  Ancient  Persians,  Hindoos 
and  Chinese,  the  Indians  of  North  America,  the  Negroes 
of  Africa,  that  they  were  to  live  hereafter.  Some  instinct 
of  the^soul,  some  necessity  of  their  nature,  and  no  mere 
logic,  was  the  rock  on  which  this  faith  was  built. 

But  sometimes  you  encounter  men  who  find  it  difficult 
to  believe  in  a  future  life.  They  are,  perhaps,  like  Thomas 
Didymus,  and  cannot  believe  without  the  evidence  of  their 
senses.  Jesus  did  not  excommunicate  this  doubter ;  he 
made  an  apostle  of  him.  So  many  a  man,  who  finds  it 
hard  to  believe  in  immortality  hereafter,  may  believe  so 
strongly  in  goodness  here,  that  he  may  be  a  true  preacher 
of  the  gospel  in  word  and  life.  He  believes  so  strongly 
and  courageously  in  the  truth  and  the  good  which  he  sees, 
that  he  shall  by  and  by  see  more.  Being  faithful  in  few 
things,  he  will  be  made  ruler  over  many  things. 


264         THE    PERSONAL    EQUATION    IN    RELIGION. 

This  subject  ought  to  teach  us  both  humility  and  charity. 
Humility,  because  we  know  in  part  and  teach  in  part,  but 
when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  then  that  which  is  in 
part  will  pass  away.  We  are  children  now,  only  trying  to 
lisp  the  language  of  God.  How  poor  is  spiritual  pride, 
self-confidence,  dogmatism,  for  us,  all  of  whose  opinions  are 
tinctured  by  the  alloy  of  our  own  imperfect  one-sided  nature  ! 
Things  look  common  and  unclean,  when  the  commonness 
is  in  our  own  mind.  If  we  are  right,  it  is  no  merit  of  ours. 
A  happy  organization,  a  fortunate  education,  favorable  cir- 
cumstances have  helped  us.  "  Who  makest  thee  to  differ  ; 
and  what  hast  thou  which  thou  didst  not  receive?" 

This  subject  should  also  teach  us  charity.  If  your 
brother  is  unable  to  see  the  divine  truth  which  you  see,  he 
is  to  be  pitied,  not  blamed.  Perhaps  he  has  but  one  talent, 
but  does  more  with  it  than  you  with  your  ten.  In  the  other 
world  this  poor  skeptic  may  shine,  a  prophet  of  God.  He 
found  it  hard  to  believe  in  God,  immortality,  heaven,  Christ, 
but  what  he  did  believe,  he  acted  out  faithfully.  He  gave 
bread  to  the  hungry,  and  clothing  to  the  naked  ;  and  in  the 
last  day  he  may  find  that  he  was  clothing,  feeding  and  car- 
ing for  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Lord  may  say  to  him :  "  Inas- 
much as  you  did  it  to  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  did 


XXV. 

LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL. 

The  hidden  man  of  the  heart. 

IF  we  translate  this  Bible  phrase  into  modern  language, 
we  might  say,  "  The  latent  good  and  evil  in  man." 

The  heart  stands  for  the  source,  back  of  all  else,  from 
which  our  life  flows.  What  we  love  most,  that  we  are. 
Wherever  our  deepest  longing  goes,  there  we  are  going. 
But  this  profound  tendency  of  the  soul  is  often  a  hidden 
tendency.     Then  it  is  "  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart." 

There  is  a  text,  often  quoted,  which  says  that  "the 
heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked." 
But  that  statement  is  not  logical,  nor  meant  to  be  so  ;  it  is 
rhetorical.  The  heart  is  often  deceitful,  but  the  heart  is 
also  often  pure.  Else  why  should  Jesus  say  "  Blessed  are 
the  pure  in  heart "  if  there  are  no  pure  in  heart  ?  Why 
should  he  say  of  Nathaniel,  "  Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in 
whom  is  no  guile  ? "  If  the  heart  is  always  desperately 
wicked,  why  should  he  speak  of  those  who  receive  the  word 
into  the  good  ground  of  an  honest  heart  ?  According  to 
Jesus,  and  according  to  all  experience,  there  is  latent  good 
in  man,  as  well  as  latent  evil. 

But  the  point  which  I  wish  you  to  notice  chiefly  is  this, 
that  there  is  in  every  man  a  great  deal  more  of  good  and 
of  evil  than  we  see.     That  which  comes  to  the  surface  is 

(265) 


266    LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL. 

only  a  small  part  of  the  real  man.  There  are  depths 
below  depths  in  all  of  us  —  unfathomable  depths  of  possi- 
bility; possibilities  of  generosity,  nobleness,  love;  possi- 
bilities of  awful  crime,  hard-hearted  selfishness,  utter  ab- 
sence of  principle.  The  moral  is,  "  Keep  thy  heart  with 
all  diligence,  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life ; "  "  watch 
and  pray,  lest  ye  enter  into  temptation;'*  "the  spirit  is 
willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak." 

It  is  apt  to  be  thought  that  human  goodness  and  human 
sin  are  all  comprised  in  outward  conduct  —  in  what  we 
see  done  and  hear  said  ;  in  what  is  apparent  to  the  senses. 
But,  besides  this  apparent  and  open  morality  or  immorality, 
there  is  also  that  which  is  unapparent,  secret,  hidden. 
Beside  the  living  waters  which  come  up  into  the  air  and 
light  in  fountains  and  springs,  and  which  open  under  the 
sky  in  brooksand  rivers,  there  are  the  infinite  ramifications 
of  unseen  underground  streams,  from  which  these  rivers 
are  forever  fed.  The  tree  which  we  see,  rising  high  into  the 
air,  comes  from  another  inverted  tree,  which  we  do  not  see, 
descending  into  the  ground,  and  branching  out  into  a  great 
web  of  roots  below. 

".Lofty  cedars  as  far  upward  shoot 
As  to  the  nether  heavens  they  drive  the  root" 

The  outward  human  form,  full  of  health,  activity  and 
beauty,  takes  all  its  movements  from  the  hidden  machinery 
within.  Inside  of  the  visible  man,  whose  face  and  from 
we  see,  there  is  an  invisible  man  of  veins  and  arteries,  and 
another  invisible  man  of  nerves,  and  a  third  invisible  man 
of  bones  ;  and  from  the  co-operation  of  these  proceed  the 
actions  of  the  visible  man.  What  we  see  in  nature  is  only 
the  visible  outcome  of  what  we  do  not  see. 

So,  in  the  processes  of  the  human  soul,  what  we  know 
proceeds  from  hidden  sources  which  we  do  not  know.   We 


LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL.    26? 

are  conscious  of  our  own  thoughts  and  purposes  ;  we  know 
that  we  do  many  things  intentionally.  Intention,  purpose, 
voluntary  choice,  play  so  important  a  part  in  human  affairs 
that  we  seem  to  ourselves  to  determine  all  our  acts  by  an 
intelligent  purpose.  We  distinguish  animals  from  men  by 
saying  that  animals  act  from  instinct,  men  from  reason.  I 
believe  animals  often  act  from  reason,  and  I  am  sure  that 
men  often  act  from  instinct.  There  is  the  instinct  of  play, 
which  all  children  have ;  there  is  the  instinct  of  imitation, 
which  causes  people  to  do  as  others  do  ;  there  is  the  in- 
stinct which  enjoys  praise,  and  loves  the  approbation  of 
others ;  the  instinct  which  makes  men  take  pleasure  in  the 
exercise  of  power,  and  a  hundred  others.  These  instincts 
make  humanity.  We  are  human  beings,  and  not  angels  or 
devils,  because  we  all  share  these  same  instinctive  tenden- 
cies. These  pour  up  into  the  soul  evermore  from  some 
hidden  fountain  within.  If  a  man  does  not  have  them,  or 
has  them  in  a  low  degree,  he  is  so  far  out  of  sympathy  with 
his  race.  This  is  the  unseen  latent  life  in  the  soul,  from 
which  its  conscious  life  flows  forth.  Without  it,  there 
would  be  no  such  thing  as  human  nature. 

But  these  instincts,"  common  to  all  men,  are  no  doubt 
modified,  altered,  controlled,  directed  by  human  will.  So 
we  can  direct  the  course  of  a  river ;  collect  it ;  dam  it  up  ; 
make  a  lake  of  it ;  or  compel  it  to  divide  into  a  thousand 
little  rivulets  to  irrigate  meadows  and  plains.  But  we 
could  not  do  this  but  for  the  perpetual  flow  of  the  stream 
from  its  hidden  fountains,  of  which  we  have  little  knowl- 
edge, over  which  we  have  no  power.  We  only  know  the 
fountain  by  the  stream  ;  we  only  know  the  tree  by  its 
fruits ;  we  only  know  the  man  by  his  actions. 

Human  instincts  become  very  much  modified  and  varied 
by  education.  But  what  is  education  but  the  creation  of 
new  instincts  or  the- modification   of  old  ones?     What  is 


268    LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL. 

the  acquisition  of  knowledge  but  the  creation  of  a  new 
instinctive  power  within  you,  which  acts  spontaneously 
when  once  created  ?  You  have  learned  French  we  will  say, 
within  a  year.  What  have  you  done  ?  You  have  created 
an  instinctive  power,  by  which,  when  you  hear  French 
spoken,  you  know  what'  it  means,  not  by  choice,  but  by 
necessity.  You  have  created  this  stock  of  latent  knowledge 
in  your  mind. 

By  means  of  long  training,  whole  nations  arrive,  after 
many  generations,  at  the  possession  of  new  instincts.  The 
savage  race  becomes  civilized  j  before,  it  had  instincts  of 
cruelty,  indolence,  plunder ;  now  it  has  instincts  of  civility, 
industry,  in  all  which  all  the  nation  partakes,  more  or  less. 
They  have  within  them  the  latent  sources  of  these  habits  of 
feeling  and  action.  This  is  the  only  way  to  explain  the 
existence  of  national  character.  There  is,  in  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  nation,  some  hidden  power,  independent  of 
their  choice,  which  makes  them  act,  more  or  less,  in  the 
same  way. 

What  do  I  mean  by  the  formation  of  a  Christian  charac- 
ter ?  I  mean  that  a  man  may  deliberately  choose  to  be 
pure,  honest,  truthful,  generous,  religious,  and  that  he 
can  turn  this  choice  at  last  into  a  habit,  so  that  it  shall  be 
natural  to  him  to  do  right,  rather  than  to  do  wrong.  What 
he  did  at  firs*t  by  an  effort,  and  with  difficulty,  he  now  does 
without  any  conscious  effort,  and  easily. 

Now,  all  these  instincts,  whether  original  or  acquired, 
are  wholly  hidden  from  our  knowledge.  They  are  latent 
until  they  are  called  out  by  some  occasion  ;  then  they  show 
themselves  spontaneously.  Some  are  near  the  surface,  and 
appear  on  all  occasions  ;  others  are  deep  down,  and  appear 
only  on  special  occasions.  We  know  that  we  possess  some 
of  these  tendencies  ;  but  we  have  others,  and  do  not  know 
we  have  them  because  they  have  never  been  called  into 


LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL.    269 

action.  Sometimes  they  are  so  strong  that  they  force  us 
to  act  against  our  deliberate  intention,  as  when  Dr.  Frank- 
lin, who  went  to  hear  Whitfield  preach,  having  determined 
not  to  contribute  anything,  ended  by  giving  all  he  had  in 
his  pocket. 

There  is  a  story  told  in  the  Bible  about  the  prophet 
Elisha.  The  king  of  Syria  sent  Hazael,  one  of  his  high 
officers,  to  the  prophet,  to  ask  if  he  should  recover  from 
his  sickness.  The  prophet  looked  steadily  at  Hazael  until 
Hazael  shrank  before  the  gaze,  and  then  the  man  of  God 
wept.  And  Hazael  asked  him  why  he  wept ;  and  Elisha 
replied,  "  Because  I  know  the  evil  thou  wilt  do  to  the 
people  of  Israel ;  their  young  men  thou  wilt  slay  with  the 
sword,  and  dash  their  children  to  pieces,  and  cut  their 
women  asunder."  And  Hazael  replied,  "  Is  thy  servant  a 
dog,  that  he  should  do  this  thing  ?  "  The  only  reply  Elisha 
made  was,  "  The  Lord  hath  shewed  me  that  thou  shalt  be 
king  over  Syria."  That  was  enough.  The  ambition  and 
cruelty  and  love  of  conquest  latent  in  his  soul,  which  he 
did  not  know  of  himself,  would  be  all  brought  to  light  by 
the  fact  of  his  becoming  king.  Irresponsible  power  brings 
out  vices  which  before  lay  hidden,  and  seemed  impossible. 

The  moral  cowardice  latent  in  the  apostle  Peter,  which 
could  make  him  deny  his  Master,  was  latent,  and  Peter 
cOuld  not  believe  it  possible  that  he  should  act  thus. 
"  Though  I  should  die  with  thee,  yet  will  I  not  deny  thee," 
said  he.  He  knew  that  he  had  physical  courage,  and  he 
showed  it  when  he  cut  off  the  servant's  ear.  He  could 
fight  the  soldiers  in  defence  of  his  Master ;  but  when  the 
maid  servant  jeered  him  for  his  Galilean  accent  and  pro- 
nunciation, he  did  not  dare  to  tell  the  truth.  The  moral 
cowardice,  latent  in  his  soul  and  unsuspected,  was  suddenly 
brought  out  by  new  circumstances. 

Circumstances  develope  latent  goodness  as  well  as  evil. 


27O    LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL. 

You  are  living  among  neighbors  whom  you  do  not  know 
very  well.  But  they  seem  to  you  commonplace  and  un- 
interesting, or  perhaps  worldly  and  frivolous.  But  some 
calamity  befalls  you.  Sickness  or  death  enters  your  home  ; 
some  accident  happens  to  a  member  of  your  family,  or  a  fire 
lays  waste  your  property.  This  event  brings  out  the  good- 
ness which  was  lying  latent  in  your  neighbor's  hearts ; 
latent  because  nothing  appealed  to  it.  How  kind  they  are 
now  !  how  self-sacrificing  ?  what  delicate  and  generous  acts 
of  sympathy  they  show  !  She  whom  you  judged  (in  your 
hasty  and  Pharisaic  opinion)  to  be  a  mere  fashionable  and 
heartless^  woman,  comes,  night  after  night,  to  watch  by  the 
bedside  of  your  dying  child,  holding  his  feverish  hands  in 
her  own,  nursing  him  with  the  tenderness  of  a  mother.  Out 
of  the  depths  of  a  society  seeming  so  worldly  on  its  surface, 
spring  up  the  refreshing  waters  of  Christian  and  humane 
action.  But  the  sickness  of  your  child  was  not  the  cause 
of  this  sympathy,  but  merely  the  occasion  of  its  manifest- 
ing itself  and  becoming  developed.  It  did  not  make,  it 
only  revealed,  these  kindly  thoughts  of  many  hearts. 

Just  so  the  great  calamities  and  dangers  of  a  nation 
arouse  as  by  an  electric  touch  the  heroism  and  self-sacrifice 
that  there  may  be  in  the  people.  Cincinnatus  steps  from 
behind  his  plough  j  William  Tell  from  his  mountain  home  ; 
Washington  from  his  comforts  ;  to  serve  his  country  in 
council  or  battle.  But  "  the  times  which  try  men's  souls  " 
do  not  make  Washingtons  and  Tells  —  they  only  test  them 
and  call  out  their  latent  virtue.  For  in  other  men  these 
same  times  develope  only  cowardice,  selfishness  and  mean- 
ness, and  in  some  nations  these  calamities  arouse  no  noble 
spirit  at  all,  for  there  is  none  there  to  arouse. 

Woe  to  the  nation,  woe  to  the  man  who  is  not  equal  to 
the  test  when  it  comes  !  If  the  test  does  not  cause  them 
to  rise,  it  makes  them  fall.  If  they  cannot  become  apostles 


LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL.     27 1 

and  friends  of  the  Saviour,  they  become  his  persecutors  and 
betrayers  ;  he  who  cannot  find  in  his  heart  the  courage  to 
be  a  Paul  becomes  an  Iscariot.  All  the  dark  passions,  all 
the  selfish  purposes,  which  before  lay  latent  in  his  soul,  are 
roused  into  full  activity.  Thus  the  coming  of  Christ  quick- 
ened the  seeds  of  good  and  evil  that  were  in  men's  souls, 
and  caused  them  to  become  saints  and  martyrs,  champions 
of  the  truth  and  heroes  of  righteousness,  or  else  to  become 
its  malignant  revilers  and  opponents,  like  bitter  Herod, 
jesting  Pilate,  hard-hearted  Caiaphas,  and  the  bloodthirsty 
mob  which  roared,  in  hoarse  fury,  "  Crucify  Him  !  crucify 
Him !  " 

Patriotism  Was  latent  in  the  mind  of  this  nation  when 
our  civil  war  came.  No  one  knew,  no  one  could  have  fore- 
told such  a  love  for  the  Union  as  then  suddenly  manifested 
itself.  We  did  injustice  to  ourselves.  We  did  not  believe 
that  we  were  ready  to  die  for  our  country.  But  it  was  so. 
"  The  times  that  tried  men's  souls  "  had  come  again,  and 
it  was  found  that  the  soul  of  the  nation  was  pure.  It  was 
then  seen  that  the  great  people  of  the  North  knew  what 
blessings  they  had  inherited  in  institutions  which  united 
union  and  freedom,  law  and  liberty.  From  ten  thousand 
villages,  from  the  Aroostook  woods  in  Maine,  to  the  wheat 
fields  of  Minnesota  in  the  West,  came  strong  and  brave 
men,  modestly  offering  their  lives  for  their  country.  In 
homes  of  luxury  on  Fifth  Avenue  and  Beacon  Street,  in 
homes  of  penury  on  worn-out  farms  in  New  Hampshire,  or 
log  cabins  in  Kansas,  the  latent  flame  of  patriotism  blazed 
into  life,  and  the  first-born,  children  of  luxury  or  penury, 
went  gladly  to  die  for  their  country. 

.  Thus  latent  goodness,  patriotism,  generosity,  suddenly 
manifests  itself.  But  so,  too,  we  have  seen  appalling  reve- 
lations of  evil  in  our  midst.  Respectable  men,  confided  in 
by  the  whole  community,  trusted  guardians  of  widows  and 


0 1   I 

rtif« 


272    LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL. 

children,  who  were  relied  upon  as  the  pillars  of  society — 
these  are  found  to  be  speculators,  using  the  trusts  confided 
to  them  to  enrich  themselves.  The  very  officers  of  the 
Government,  appointed  to  collect  the  revenue,  are  found 
to  have  taken  bribes  from  those  who  wished  to  rob  it. 
Those  whose  business  it  is  to  guard  the  treasury  need  to 
be  guarded  themselves,  watched  by  deteotives,  and  tracked 
ingeniously  in  their  contrivances  of  knavery.  Men  who 
were  willing  to  die  for  their  land  cannot  resist  the  temp- 
tation to  plunder  it. 

,  Fifteen  years  ago  came  the  day  of  judgment  for  the 
slaveholders  and  their  allies.  To-day  comes  the  day  of 
judgment  for  the  thieves  and  their  companions.  But,  as 
the  slaveholders  were  conquered,  so  let  us  be  sure  the 
thieves  will  also  be  conquered.  The  nation  saved  by  blood, 
purified  by  fire,  is  not  to  be  ruined  by  pickpockets.  We  do 
not  enough  appreciate  the  latent  honesty  in  the  hearts  of 
the  common  people  throughout  the  land.  The  silent  masses 
of  men  are  usually  on  the  side  of  right.  They  do  not  pro- 
fess, nor  talk,  but  when  the  time  comes  they  act. 

Elijah,  the  great  prophet  of  Israel,  fell  into  this  mistake. 
He  ran  away  from  his  work  in  despair,  and  hid  in  a  cave 
in  Mount  Sinai.  Then  the  Lord  came  and  said,  "  What  doest 
thou  here,  Elijah  ?  "  And  he  replied,  "  I  have  been  very 
zealous  for  thy  cause,  O  God  •  for  my  people  have  back- 
slidden into  all  kinds  of  idolatry,  and  I  am  the  only  faith- 
ful man  left,  and  they  seek  my  life,  too."  Then  the  Lord 
sent  a  tempest,  and  an  earthquake  and  a  fire,  and  the  Lord 
was  not  in. any  of  them.  But  after  the  fire  came  a  still, 
small  voice.  And  the  voice  told  Elijah  that  there  were 
still  ten  thousand  men  in  Israel  who  had  not  bowed  the 
knee  to  Baal.  Ten  thousand  good  men  beside  Elijah,  and 
he  had  supposed  himself  the  only  one  left!  All  this  latent 
goodness  among  the  Israelites  which    he  knew  nothing 


LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL.    273 

about !  Noisy  goodness  is  not  the  only  kind.  Goodness 
which  shakes  the  earth,  or  goes  over  it  in  a  tempest  of  re- 
vivals, or  consumes  it  like  a  fire,  is  all  well ;  but  the 
speechless,  mute  goodness,  never  put  into  newspapers, 
written  on  no  monuments,  not  spoken  of  in  harangues, 
eulogies,  or  obituary  notices,  this  is  the  solid  foundation 
on  which  the  safety  of  a  nation  reposes. 

There  is  a  curious  passage  in  the  epistle  to  the  Thes- 
salonians,  which  teaches  us  how  important  it  is  that  the 
latent  evil  in  the  world  should  come  out,  in  order  to  be  de- 
stroyed. The  Christians  were  expecting  the  immediate, 
outward,  visible  coming  of  Christ — and  that  very  soon. 
Paul  says  to  them,  "  You  are  mistaken.  There  has  to  be 
a  great  development  of  latent  evil  before  Christ  can  come. 
There  is  an  evil  principle  hidden  in  the  Christian  church  — 
a  priestcraft  fjfoich  claims  divine  authority  for  itself,  which 
undertakes  to  govern  the  church  by  absolute  power.  This 
evil  principle  is  at  work,  and  must  come  out  and  be  shown 
and  be  destroyed  by  the  power  of  truth,  before  Christ  can 
come.  Just  now  it  is  latent,  because  the  external  pressure 
of  Roman  persecution  prevents  it  from  showing  itself.  But 
it  must  be  shown,  seen  and  destroyed  before  Christ  can 
come." 

Often,  the  best  thing  that  can  happen  is  for  evil  to 
come  out  and  be  seen.  Then  it  can  be  destroyed  j  not 
otherwise.  The  whiskey-rings,  and  canal-rings,  and 
Tweed-rings,  and  Credit- Mobilier  rings,  must  be  seen, 
manifested,  made  public,  in  order  to  be  destroyed.  When 
such  iniquities  come  out  we  feel  very  sad,  but  it  would  be 
worse  if  they  did  not  come  out.  When  the  man  of  sin  is 
hidden  he  does  the  most  harm  ;  when  he  is  revealed  he  is 
conquered  by  the  power  of  truth. 

It  is  a  comfort  to  know  that  there  is  latent  goodness  in 
us  as  well  as  evil.     The  apostle  Peter,  as  we  have  seen, 

18 


274    LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL. 

had  ever  so  much  latent  weakness  and  cowardice  in  him ; 
but  he  had  latent  goodness,  too,  deeper  than  his  evil, 
stronger  than  his  weakness.  Below  it  all  there  was  the 
rock  of  honest  conviction,  sincere  intention ;  and  therefore 
Jesus  said,  "  Thou  art  Peter ;  and  on  this  rock  I  will  build 
my  church."  This  is  what  the  church  of  Christ  stands 
upon ;  this  is  its  foundation  —  the  rock  of  sincerity  and 
honesty  in  the  minds  of  Christian  men  and  women. 

We  have  seen  in  this  manner,  latent  seeds  of  evil  as  sud- 
denly developed,  under  certain  ^circumstances,  as  those  of 
goodness  ?  There  is  latent  evil  lurking  in  all  our  hearts, 
of  which  we  are  not  aware  ourselves.  We  do  not  know 
how  many  devils  of  selfishness,  sense  and  falsehood  are 
hiding  themselves  in  the  mysterious  depths  of  our  souls. 
If  we  do  not  learn  this  through  that  noble  Christian  humil- 
ity which  "  still  suspects  and  still  reveres  itself,"  we  must 
learn  it  through  the  bitter  experience  of  failure  and  open 
sin. 

How  many  examples  there  are  to  prove  the  existence  of 
this  latent  evil  !  We  have  seen  a  young  man  go  from  the 
pure  home  of  his  childhood,  from  the  holy  influences  of  a 
Christian  community.  As  an  infant  his  brow  had  been 
touched  with  the  water  of  baptism  amid  the  prayers  of  the 
church ;  as  a  child  his  feet  had  been  taught  the  way  to  the 
house  of  God  ;  In  his  home  his  parents  had  prayed  for  him 
that  he  might  be  an  honest  and  useful  man,  whether  he 
was  to  be  poor  or  rich,  learned  or  ignorant.  He  leaves 
his  home  and  comes  to  the  city  to  engage  in  business.  He 
trusts  in  his  own  heart,  in  his  own  upright  purpose,  in  his 
own  virtuous  habits.  But  there  is  latent  evil  in  his  heart, 
there  is  a  secret  selfishness,  a  hidden  and  undeveloped 
sensualism,  which  is  ready  to  break  out  under  the  influ- 
ences which  will  now  surround  him.  He  becomes  a  lover 
of  pleasure ;  he  attends  balls  and  theatres  ;  he  rides  out 


LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL.    2/5 

with  gay  companions  ;  he  acquires  a  taste  for  play,  wine 
and  excitement.  He  determines  to  make  money  that  he 
may  indulge  these  new  tastes,  and  he  devotes  all  his  ener- 
gies to  this  pursuit.  In  a  year  or  two,  how  far  has  he  gone 
from  the  innocent  hopes  and  tastes  of  his  childhood  ?  His 
serene  brow  is  furrowed  with  worldly  lines  ;  his  pure  eye 
clouded  with  licentious  indulgence.  The  latent  evil  that 
was  in  him  has  come  out  under  the  test  of  these  new  cir- 
cumstances. 

Meantime,  another  young  man,  apparently  no  better  than 
he,  has,  under  the  same  circumstances,  developed  the  seeds 
of  virtuous  and  holy  purposes,  and  has  become  a  man  of 
unshaken  integrity  and  virtue.  Why  this  difference  ?  You 
cannot  trace  it  to  education,  for  their  education  was  similar, 
you  cannot  account  for  it  by  the  influence  of  circumstances, 
example  and  outward  temptations  ;  for  these  were  the  same 
in  both  cases.  The  difference  was  in  the  latent  character 
of  the  two  boys.  The  apparent  character  of  the  two  boys  was 
the  same  when  they  left  their  homes,  but  the  latent  charac- 
ter was  different.  One  in  the  depths  of  his  soul  was  then 
a  sensualist;  was  then  a  worldly  and  selfish  boy.  Under 
good  external  habits  there  was  an  inward  turning  toward 
evil.  The  other,  with  no  better  outward  habits,  had  in 
reality  an'  inward  principle  of  goodness.  His  heart  was 
turned  to  good  in  its  deepest  principles  and  aims.  And 
circumstances  merely  developed  the  latent  good  and  evil 
of  the  two. 

Had  I  time,  I  might  illustrate  this  principle  by  a  hun- 
dred similar  instances.  These  facts  show  that  goodness 
does  not  consist,  as  we  sometimes  say,  merely  in  good  ac- 
tions and  virtuous  habits.  There  is  an  inward  hidden  good- 
ness, as  well  as  an  outward  apparent  goodness.  There  is  a 
goodness  which  has  not  yet  been  manifested  and  devel- 
oped.    Just  so  there  is  also  a  latent  evil  which  has  not  yet 


276    LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL. 

been  developed.  A  man  may  be  a  very  bad  man  who  has 
not  yet  performed  any  very  bad  actions.  He  is  ready  to 
perform  them  as  soon  as  the  temptation  comes. 

The  fact  of  latent  goodness  is  as  true  and  important  as 
that  of  latent  evil.  If  our  inmost  purposes  are  right ;  if 
our  aims  are  pure  ;  if  we  have  kept  our  heart  with  all  dili- 
gence ;  if  we  have  habitually  trusted  our  souls  to  God,  and 
yielded  up  our  hearts  to  him  in  earnest  aspiration,  then  we 
have  a  stock  of  latent  goodness,  ready  and  equal  for  any 
occasion  which  may  come  to  call  for  it.  We  need  not  fear, 
then,  that  we  shall  not  be  able  to  meet  any  emergencies. 
The  hour  may  come  which  calls  for  great  sacrifices  and 
self-denial ;  the  hour  of  trial  may  come  which  shall  take 
from  us  our  best  beloved,  our  nearest  friend  ;  the  hour  of 
death  may  be  drawing  near  which  shall  take  us  away  from 
all ;  but  we  shall  be  ready  for  it ;  we  shall  be  equal  to  it. 
An  unsuspected  strength  will  then  manifest  itself,  a  courage 
and  faith  for  which  we  dared  not  hope  will  triumphantly 
reveal  itself.  How  often  have  we  seen  this !  How  often 
have  we  seen,  in  the  dying  hour,  a  serene  and  happy  faith 
show  itself  in  one  who  in  life  was  timid  and  full  of  religious 
uncertainty  !.  This  faith  was  the  fruit  of  the  latent  goodness, 
of  the  deep  purpose  of  righteousness,  earnestly  cherished 
during  life.  How,  too,  have  we  seen,  amid  the  difficulties 
and  temptations  of  life,  noble  acts  of  integrity  and  heroic 
goodness  suddenly  performed  by  those  whom  we  did  not 
esteem  capable  of  such  things.  Their  hearts  were  right, 
and  so  they  were  made  capable  of  the  right  action  when 
the  time  came  for  it  to  be  done. 

What,  then,  is  the  practical  conclusion  for  these  facts  ? 
It  is  that  we  should  both  distrust  ourselves  and  trust  our- 
selves ;  that  we  should  pray.  "  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,' 
yet  "count  it  all  joy  when  we  fall  into  temptation."  The 
petition  of  "Lead  us  not  into  temptation,"  is  the  prayer 


LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL.    277 

of  Christian  humility  conscious  of  its  own  weakness.  If 
this  prayer  is  truly  offered,  it  may  supersede  the  necessity 
of  temptation.  If  we  are  already  conscious  of  our  weak- 
ness, we  may  not  need  the  trial  which  is  sent  to  show  us 
our  weakness. 

But  if,  nevertheless,  God  sends  the  trial,  then  it  was 
necessary  that  we  should  be  tried,  and  let  us  count  it  all 
joy  that  it  has  come.  If  it  brings  out  an  amount  of  latent 
evil  of  which  we  were  not  aware,  then  it  is  well  that  we 
should  become  thus  acquainted  with  our  own  depths  of 
sinfulness.  The  disease  must  be  brought  out  before  it  can 
be  cured.  But  if  the  temptation,  on  the  other  hand,  re- 
veals and  quickens  powers  of  inward  virtue  and  resolution, 
then  let  us  bless  God  for  this  latent  goodness  which  he 
shows  us.  Let  us  bless  him  for  this  experience,  by  which 
we  learn  the  capacities  of  faith,  love  and  holy  resolution 
with  which  he  has  endowed  us.  Let  it  increase  our  cour- 
age and  confidence  ;  a  confidence  not  blind,  but  intelli- 
gent ;  a  confidence  that  God  is  always  near  the  soul  that 
seeks  him  and  trusts  in  him ;  a  confidence  that  he  will 
never  leave  or  forsake  those  who  love  him. 

At  the  commencement  of  these  remarks  I  said  that  the 
moral  of  it  was,  "  Keep  thy  heart  with  all  diligence,  for 
out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life."  But  how  can  we  keep  our 
heart  ?  We  can  keep  our  hands,  by  an  effort,  from  wrong 
actions,  and  force  them  to.  do  right  ones.  We  can  keep 
our  lips  from  saying  unkind  or  hasty  words,  though  that  is 
sometimes  hard  enough.  But  how  keep  our  heart  ?  How 
make  ourselves  a  right  spirit,  a  good  temper  ?  That  seems 
simply  impossible.  How  direct  those  tendencies  which 
are  hidden  even  from  ourselves  ? 

Here,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  place  and  need  of  religion. 
If  it  be  true  that  our  soul  lies  open  inwardly  to  God,  and 
that  we  rest  on  Him,  then  is  it  not  possible,  is  it  not  prob- 


278    LATENT  GOODNESS  AND  LATENT  EVIL. 

« 

able,  that  if  we  put  our  heart  into  his  hands  he  will  guide 
it  ?  And  the  experience  of  universal  man,  in  all  ages,  all 
countries,  all  religions,  teaches  this  value  of  prayer.  It  is 
taught  by  Socrates  and  Seneca,  no  less  than  by  Jesus 
Christ. 

Here  is  the  place  of  religion  ;  this  is  its  need.  We  do 
not  need  to  pray  to  God  for  what  we  can  do  ourselves. 
But  what  we  cannot  do  for  ourselves  is  to  guide  and  keep 
and  direct  this  hidden  man  of  the  heart.  We  have  a  right 
to  come  boldly  to  God  for  this  j  asking  his  spirit  and  ex- 
pecting to  receive  it.  This  is  a  promise  we  can  trust  in, 
that  God  will  give  his  Holy  Spirit  to  those  who  ask  him. 

I  often  see  in  the  journals  and  elsewhere  jeers  at  pray- 
ing people,  as  if  they  were  no  better  than  others.  This 
may  be  very  true  of  the  prayer  of  form  ;  of  those  who, 
pray  to  be  seen  of  men ;  of  those  who  pray  mere- 
ly as  a  ceremony  or  a  duty.  But  I  do  not  believe  that 
a  man  can  ever  pray  privately  and  in  earnest  to  be  guided 
right,  to  be  kept  from  evil,  to  be  put  into  a-  good  temper 
and  a  good  spirit,  without  this  good  coming.  Therefore, 
"keep  thy  heart"  by  putting  it  daily  into  God's,  hands 
with  the  sincere  longing  that  he  shall  keep  it  for  thee. 


XXVI. 

POSSESSED  WITH  A  DEVIL. 

A  DUMB  MAN   POSSESSED  WITH  A  DEVIL. 

I  DO  not  propose,  at  this  time,  to  discuss  the  difficult 
question  of  demoniacal  possession.  I  will,  however, 
say  a  few  words  concerning  it,  before  proceeding  to  my 
main  subject. 

It  seems  that,  in  the  time  of  Jesus,  many  diseases,  such 
as  insanity,  epilepsy,  dumbness,  were  ascribed  to  the  influ- 
ence of  evil  spirits,  who  first  got  possession  of  the  mind, 
and  afterwards  of  the  body.  This  opinion  has  widely  pre- 
vailed, outside  of  Palestine,  and  has  given  rise  to  the  be-' 
lief  in  witchcraft  and  all  its  superstitions.  'It  has  revived 
again  among  ourselves,  among  some  classes  of  Spiritual- 
ists, who  have  assured  me  that  they  have  known  persons 
who,  after  acting  as  mediums,  have  at  last  fallen  into  the 
power  of  the  bad  spirits,  and  become  subject  to  disease, 
insanity,  and  perhaps  death.  If  we  once  accept  the  fact  of 
intercourse  with  spirits,  the  possibility  of  spiritual  posses- 
sion will  easily  be  admitted.  Spiritualists,  therefore,  have 
no  difficulty  with  the  stories  of  demoniacal  possession  in 
the  New  Testament,  or  elsewhere. 

Another  circumstance  which   ought  to  be  mentioned  is, 

that  while  in  our  English  Testament  we  continually  read 

of  persons  "possessed  with  the  devil,"  or  "  with  a  devil," 

(279) 


280  POSSESSED    WITH   A   DEVIL. 

no  such  phrases  are  to  be  found  in  the  original.  In  the 
Greek,  it  is  always  stated  that  they  are  possessed  by  de- 
mons A  distinction  is  always  made  between  the  demons, 
or  spirits,  and  the  devil ;  which  distinction  our  translators 
have  seen  fit  to  ignore.  Possession  by  the  devil  or  devils 
is  mentioned  seventy-six  times  in  our  English"  Bible,  and 
in  every  one  of  these  cases  the  word  in  the  original  is  not 
Diabolos  (or  devil),  but  always  Daimon,  or  evil  spirit. 
Where  the  phrase  in  English  is  "possessed  by  a  devil," 
which  occurs  thirteen  times  in  our  Gospels,  it  is  always 
"demonized"  in  the  Greek.  This  is  something  which 
ought  to  be  attended  to  in  the  new  translation  of  the  Bible. 

One  other  fact  is  that  Jesus,  in  every  instance  where  he 
is  reported  as  casting  out  devils,  does  it  by  mental  and 
moral  methods.  He  never  uses  magic  formulas  or  physical 
tailsmans.  It  is  a  mind  cure  which  he  uses.  He  gives  the 
poor  sufferer  faith,  enables  him  to  exercise  his  own  will, 
puts  forth  upon  his  soul  a  moral  influence.  This  same  in- 
fluence seems  to  have  been  exercised  by  others.  The  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus  sometimes  cast  out  demons,  and  they  in- 
formed him  that  they  one  day  saw  a  man  who  followed  not 
with  them  doing  the  same  thing  in  the  name  of  Christ. 
This  person  seems  to  have  believed  in  Jesus,  for  he  cast 
out  demons  in  his  name.  He  wished  to  do  good,  and  did 
it,  and  did  it  in  the  name  of  Jesus ;  but  the  disciples  for- 
bade him  because  fie  followed  not  them.  This  is  the  first  in- 
stance of  sectarianism  in  the  Christian  church,  and  was 
strongly  rebuked  by  Jesus. 

And  now,  perhaps,  you  may  ask,  "  What  then,  is  the  dif- 
ference between  a  demon  and  a  devil  ?  "  I  take  the  differ- 
ence to  be  this  :  A  devil  is  an  influence  which  is  always 
bad  ;  but  the  influence  of  a  demon  may  be  bad  or  good. 
It  is  bad  when  you  are  possessed  by  it,  good  when  you 
possess  it. 


POSSESSED    WITH   A   DEVIL.  28 1 

This  distinction  I  hold  to  be  very  important.  A  de- 
monic spirit  is  simply  a  powerful  spirit.  When  you  are 
able  to  use  it,  it  will  serve  you,  and  may  enable  you  to  be 
very  useful.  When  it  uses  you  —  when  you  are  possessed 
by  it,  when  you  are  passive  in  its  hands  —  it  draws  you 
down,  makes  a  slave  of  you,  and  so  demoralizes  and  de- 
bases you. 

It  is  not  meet  that  man  should  be  possessed  by  anything. 
He  is  to  possess  all  things,  but  not  to  be  ever  a  posses- 
sion. "  Having  nothing,  and  yet  possessing  all  things," 
says  the  apostle.  Self-possession  is  the  most  manly  qual- 
ity in  man  —  self-possession,  self -direction. 

When  God  gave  to  man  his  senses,  he  made  them  ave- 
nues by  which  to  pass  out  of  himself  into  nature,  and  into 
the  great,  all-surrounding  universe  of  God.  When  we  pos- 
sess and  control  our  senses,  they  are  sources  of  pleasure, 
knowledge,  power  and  good.  But  you  will  observe  that  all 
the  senses  have  an  active  or  passive  employment.  W7hen 
we  receive  impressions  passively  through  the  eye,  we  say 
that  we  see ;  when  we  search  actively  with  the  eye,  we  say 
that  we  look.  In  like  manner,*  with  the  passive  use  of  the 
ear,  we  hear ;  with  the  active  exercise,  we  listen.  So,  too, 
through  another  sense,  we  either  feel  or  touch.  And  al- 
though there  are  no  phrases  by  which  to  express  the  dif- 
ference between  the  active  and  passive  exercise  of  smell 
and  taste,  there  is  yet  the  same  distinction  ;  and,  univer- 
sally, the  passive  exercise  of  the  senses  is  called  sensa- 
tion ;  the  active  exercise  is  perception. 

Now,  the  general  rule  is  that  we  are  possessed  by  the 
senses  in  sensation  ;  we  possess  them  in  perception. 

In  this  magnificent  season,  when  all  nature  is  glorious 
with  the  colors  of  the  dying  year,  two  persons  go  out  into 
the  woods.  One  possesses  his  senses ;  the  other  is  pos- 
sessed by  them.     The  one  is  looking,  the  other  only  seeing. 


282  POSSESSED   WITH   A   DEVIL. 

The  man  of  mere  sensation  has  a  vision  of  color  before 
his  eyes  \  but  it  soon  tires,  and  all  he  can  say  about  it  is 
that  "  the  country  is  looking  very  well,  this  October."  The 
other  is,  perhaps,  an  artist,  searching  into  all  the  details  of 
beauty,  hour  after  hour.  He  notices  the  deep  violet  of  the 
sky,  the  flaming  crimsons  and  scarlets  of  the  woods,  every 
detail  of  light  and  shadow  in  the  forest,  every  picturesque 
effect  of  the  sunlight  on  the  meadow,  the  airy  perspective 
of  the  sky  and  distant  land,  and  carries  back  a  treasure  of 
new  experience  for  joy  and  use  during  the  winter. 

The  senses,  when  we  direct  and  possess  them,  are 
sources  of  infinite  delight;  when  we  allow  ourselves  to  be 
possessed  by  them,  they  degrade  us.  Then  the  imagina- 
tion is  filled  with  low,  unworthy  pictures  of  self-indul- 
gence ;  then,  at  last,  the  man  becomes  the  slave  of  sen- 
sual pleasure,  and  becomes  a  brute.  I  beg  pardon  of  the 
brutes  ;  they  never  go  so  low  as  a  sensual  man.  Brutes 
use  their  senses,  and  do  not  abuse  them.  Forgive  me, 
honest  horse,  doing  your  best  to  obey  a  drunken,  surly, 
bad-tempered  driver,  who  frightens  you  with  curses,  and 
then  beats  you  because  you  are  frightened — forgive  me! 
You  are  less  a  brute  than  he.  Faithful  dog — affectionate, 
trusting,  docile  —  forgive  me  !  You  are  higher  in  the  scale- 
of  creation  than  the  passionate  scoundrel  who  kicks  you 
in  his  senseless  anger.  Reptiles  and  creeping  things,  for- 
give me  !  You  nevei  stupefy  your  souls  with  low  lusts  ; 
you  never  "  apply  hot  and  rebellious  liquors  to  your  blood." 
Only  man  makes  himself  the  slave  of  his  senses  ;  brutes 
use  theirs,  and  do  not  abuse  them.  When  they- have  eaten 
as  much  as  they  need,  they  stop.  Only  man  is  a  glutton, 
"  whose  god  is  his  belly  ;  "  only  man  allows  himself  to  be- 
come the  slave  of  some  appetite — the  slave  of  tobacco,  the 
slave  of  whiskey.  At  Eaton  Hall,  near  Chester,  I  saw  a 
horse  belonging  to  the  Marquis  of  Westminster^  who  al- 


POSSESSED    WITH    A   DEVIL.  283 

lowed  no  one  having  a  piece  of  tobacco  about  his  person 
to  enter  his  stall.  That  horse  was,  I  think,  much  more  of 
a  gentleman  than  those  men  who  defile  the  floors  of  the 
cars  and  the  sidewalks,  with  their  filthy  habits.  Possess 
this  demon  of  sense,  and  it  serves  you  nobly.  Be  possessed 
by  it,  and  you  will  sink  to  the  deepest  degradation. 

The  next  demon  I  speak  of  is  very  good  or  very  bad, 
according  as  we  possess  him,  or  he  us.  It  is  the  Word,  or 
Language. 

When  a  man  possesses  the  gift  of  language,  and  can  ex- 
press thought,  feeling,  purpose,  exactly,  it  is  a  great  power. 
Such  a  man  causes  Truth,  Love,  Right,  to  become  clear  to 
himself  and  others.  He  forms  the  creed  of  a  nation,  an 
age,  not  only  in  theology,  but  in  literature,  art,  science, 
morals,  politics.  But  often  it  happens  that  the  very  excel- 
lence of  expression  becomes  a  trap  and  snare.  "  The  letter 
killeth"  says  Paul  ;  even  the  letter  of  the  New  Testament. 
It  kills  insight ;  it  produces  b'gotry  and  cant ;  and  we  use 
words  with  no  sense  behind  them.  When  we  possess 
words,  we  are  the  apostles  of  Truth ;  when  they  possess 
us,  we  are  the  ministers  of  Cant. 

It  is  a  good  thing  to  have  a  belief  and  distinct  opinions 
—  and  to  be  able  to  express  them  distinctly  in  words.  It 
is  well  to  form  a  creed  in  politics,  in  morals,  in  philosophy, 
in'  religion.  While  we  possess  our  opinions  the  mind  is 
strong,  large,  and  calm  —  but  when  our  opinions  possess 
us,  we  are  narrowed  down,  cribbed  and  confined,  and 
become  bigots. 

Not  religious  people  only  are  bigots  —  possessed  by  a 
creed ;  for  I  have  known  atheists  and  skeptics  who  were 
the  fools  of  words  —  always  going  round  and  round  like  a 
horse  in  a  mill,  in  the  same  circle  of  expressions.  Relig- 
ious people  are  often  possessed  by  their  creed,  and  put  it 
above  goodness  —  above  a  holy  life.    If  men  say  the  same 


284  POSSESSED    WITH    A    DEVIL. 

things  as  themselves,  use  the  same  formulas,  they  are 
satisfied.  Whether  they  believe  the  same  things  or  not  is 
of  less  consequence. 

The  man  who  possesses  his  ideas  is  a  thinker  ;  the  man 
who  is  possessed  by  them  is  a  fanatic.  Fanatics  are  not 
very  common  in  the  world,  but  we  occasionally  meet  with 
them.  These  are  they  before  whose  imagination  some 
notion,  some  opinion,  has  assumed  such  vast  proportions, 
that  it  eclipses  all  other  truths  and  beliefs. .  The  man  has 
become  the  slave  of  his  idea,  whatever  it  may  be.  His 
mind  has  lost  all  sense  of  perspective.  His  judgment  is 
unbalanced  —  he  can  only  see  one  side  of  a  subject.  If 
it  be  a  religious  idea  which  possesses  him,  all  who  do  not 
accept  it  are  infidels  and  miscreants,  who  ought  to  be 
extirpated  by  fire  and  sword.  If  he  be  in  the  majority,  he 
persecutes  —  if  in  the  minority,  he  willingly  offers  himself 
to  be  persecuted.  The  thing  he  hates  the  most  is  modera- 
tion, which  he  calls  indifference.  But  the  same  fanaticism 
appears  in  science,  in  art,  in  literature,  in  politics  —  wher- 
ever, in  fact,  men  contend  about  opinions.  Herbert 
Spencer  has  recently  said  that  there  is  an  ^^//-theological 
bias,  which  is  as  bigoted  and  angry  as  that  of  theology. 
Some  men  can  never  speak  on  any  subject  without  throw- 
ing out  some  sneer  against  Christianity,  the  church,  or 
religion.     These  are  the  fanatics  of  infidelity. 

Christians  are  often  possessed  by  their  creed,  and  be- 
come its  slaves.  Men  of  science  are  sometimes  possessed 
in  the  same  way,  though  I  think  not  as  often  —  because 
they  come  into  closer  contact  with  the  facts  of  nature, 
which  cannot  be  twisted  much  by  sophistry  or  put  down  by 
persecution.  Men  usually  quarrel  about  opinions  —  not 
about  facts.  We  get  angry  in  defending  our  opinions 
when  we  are  not  quite  sure  that  we  are  right.  Certainty 
takes  away  our  excitement.     If  a  man  contends  that  two 


POSSESSED    WITH    A   DEVIL.  285 

and  two  are  five,  and  not  four,  he  does  not  make  me 
angry ;  but  if  I  am  a  Darwinian,  and  he  opposes  that 
hypothesis  —  or  vice  versa  —  then  I  become  excited. 
Speculation  is  excitable  —  positive  knowledge  is  calm. 

There  is  an  absence  of  fanaticism  and  bigotry  in  the 
writings  of  the  New  Testament  which  seems  to  me  to  in- 
dicate the  self-possession  of  the  writers.  They  controlled 
this  demon  of  thought  —  they  were  not  controlled  by  it. 
An  English  poet  has  described  this  equanimity  of  mind, 
when  he  says  of  a  certain  person  that  he  had  — 

"  An  equal  nature,  and  an  ample  soul, 
Rock  bound  and  fortified  against  the  assaults 
Of  momentary  passion,  but  beneath 
Built  on  a  surging,  subterranean  fire, 
Which  stirred  and  lifted  him  to  great  attempts." 

The  Apostle  Paul  was  a  man  whose  whole  nature  rested 
on  this  "surging,  subterranean  fire."  What  immense  ardor 
of  conviction  !  What  strength  of  faith  in  his  ideas !  But 
he  possessed  them — he  was  not  possessed  by  them. 
"  The  spirit  of  the  prophet/'  said  he,  "  is  subject  to  the 
prophet."  Therefore,  he  was  always  clear  and  confident  in 
his  own  mind  —  he  saw  his  way  —  he  was  able  to  balance 
opposing  truths.  Though  he  was  the  theologian  among 
apostles,  he  laid  no  undue  stress  on  theology  —  he  ac- 
cepted all  his  own  opinions  as  not  absolute,  but  relative  — 
as  only  provisional  till  something  better  came.  "  We  know 
in  part,  and  teach  in  part,"  says  he,  "  but  when  that  which 
is  perfect  is  come  then  that  which  is  in  part  shall  be  done 
away."  Faith  in  Christ  is  the  key  to  his  system  —  its 
corner-stone ;  nevertheless  he  says,  that  Love  is  greater 
than  Faith. 

Every  young  man  who  reads  this  book  unless  he  be  a 
clergyman   or   a  divinity  student,   is  hoping   to   be  rich 


286  POSSESSED    WITH    A    DEVIL. 

some  time  or  other.  That  is  right.  Wealth  is  a  good 
thing.  We  sometimes  hear  the  Bible  quoted  as  though  it 
said  that  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil.  This  is  a  misquota- 
tion —  what  it  says  is  that  the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of 
all  evil.  There  is  nothing  wrong  about  the  wish  to  be  rich 
—  as  long  as  it  does  not  become  an  absorbing  passion.  In 
fact,  a  very  large  part  of  our  civilization  comes  from  the 
effort  to  make  money.  Without  this  motive  we  should 
sink  back  into  barbarism.  Some  persons  contend  that  no 
one  ought  to  receive  interest  for  the  use  of  money  —  they 
denounce  taking  of  interest  as  wrong.  But  what  would  be 
the  result  of  forbidding  interest  to  be  taken?  The  result 
would  be  that  men  would  hoard  their  money  —  dig  a  hole 
in  the  ground,  and  bury  it,  as  they  do  in  Asia.  But  now 
they  lend  it,  for  six,  ten,  twelve  per  cent,  to  persons  who 
can  put  it  into  their  business,  and  make  twenty,  forty,  a 
hundred  per  cent,  out  of  it.  Men  would  not  pay  interest 
on  money  if  they  did  not  make  more  out  of  it  than  they 
pay  —  and  those  who  deal  with  them  are  also  profited,  or 
they  would  not  deal  with  them.  I,  therefore,  do  not  object 
to  money-making.  The  effort  to  accumulate  a  fortune. is 
in  itself  an  education.  It  develops  prudence,  foresight 
accuracy,  knowledge  of  things.  Money  is  a  demon,  a 
great  motive  power,  a  mighty  influence  for  good  or  evil. 
If  we  possess  it,  it  does  us  good  —  if  we  allow  it  to  possess 
us,  it  does  us  harm. 

How  many  men  there  are  in  our  community,  who  con- 
sider themselves  to  possess  property,  who  are,  in  fact, 
possessed  by  it !  What  terrible  illustrations  we  have  had, 
in  the  last  few  years,  of  high-minded,  honorable  men, 
brought  low  by  this  mistake  !  They  were  in  such  a  hurry 
to  get  rich,  they  could  not  wait.  What  Credit-Mobilier 
transactions  —  what  Salary-Grabs  in  Congress  —  what  brib- 
ing of  Legislatures  —  what  Rings  to  plunder  municipalities 


POSSESSED    WITH    A    DEVIL.  287 

—  what  defalcations  of  officers  in  banks,  and  of  treasurers 
of  trust  companies.  Some  of  these  men  I  have  known  — 
men  who  seemed  to  have  died  weighed  down  by  remorse 
and  shame.  They  were  good  men  when  I  knew  them  — 
they  were  not  so  bad  men  as  many  others  even  when  they 
fell  into  these  crimes  ;  but  they  allowed  themselves  to  be 
possessed  by  their  money,  instead  of  possessing  it  —  that 
was  all. 

What  is  the  difference  between  a  scholar  and  a  pedant, 
but  that  the  scholar  possesses  his  knowledge,  the  pedant 
is  possessed  by  it  ?  The  scholar  knows  what  he  knows, 
and  what  he  knows  it  for.  He  is  able  to  use  his  knowl- 
edge, he  has  it  at  command.  The  pedant  has  a  head  filled 
with  ilL-assorted,  ill-arranged  learning,  useless  to  himself 
and  to  others. 

I  once  knew  a  man  who  spent  his  life  in  tracing  our 
English  Bible  to  its  sources  in  all  previous  translations. 
He  gathered  a  library  of  books,  all  bearing  on  this  subject. 
He  professed  to  be  writing  a  history  of  the  English  Bible, 
and  sent  out  subscription  papers  to  publish  it.  He  could 
think  of  nothing  else,  talk  of  nothing  else.  It  possessed 
him  entirely.  If  he  met  you,  he  would  begin,  without  a 
preamble,  and  talk  about  Beza,  the  Bishop's  Bible,  Cover- 
dale's  translation,  Tyndall,  and  the  like.  When  he  died, 
they  searched  for  his  MSS.  to  print  it,  and  found  that  he 
had  never  written  a  word  of  it.  He  was  possessed  by  his 
knowledge  —  he  did  not  possess  it. 

Some  teachers  take  possession  of  their  disciples,  and 
run  them  into  the  mould  of  their  own  thought.  The 
scholar  repeats,  like  a  parrot,  the  opinions  of  his  teacher. 
He  is  possessed  by  his  teacher.  But  the  wise  and  truly 
great  teacher  never' does  this  ;  he  rouses  the  independent 
faculties  of  the  pulpit  —  he  awakens  all  his  own  powers  — 
he  gives  him  to  himself.  This  is  education  —  the  other  is 
only  cramming. 


288  POSSESSED   WITH    A   DEVIL. 

Any  kind  of  work  which  we  possess  and  direct  partakes 
of  the  nature  of  art ;  if  it  possesses  us,  it  is  only  drudgery. 
He  who  puts  thought  and  love  into  his  work,  and  desires 
to  do  it  as  well  as  it  can  be  done,  is  a  real  artist,  if  he 
only  sweeps  a  room.  A  little  bootblack  was  once  brushing 
my  shoe ;  when  it  was  nearly  finished,  I  said,  "  That  will 
do ; "  but  he  said,  "  No  !  Let  me  shine  it  all  round." 
Now  he  was  an  artist ;  he  had  the  spirit  of  art  in  him  a 
great  deal  more  than  many  a  slovenly  painter,  who  works 
below  his  own  level  merely  to  sell  as  many  pictures  as 
possible. 

The  difference  between  love  and  fascination  is  exactly 
the  same.  When  we  truly  and  nobly  love,  we  possess  our 
love,  and  are  not  its  slaves.     We  are  able  then  to  say> 

"  I  should  not  love  thee,  dear,  so  much 
Loved  I  not  honor  more.  " 

But  when  we  are  possessed  by  our  love,  that  is  fascina- 
tion, and  we  are  degraded  by  it. 

A  young  lady  may  possess  her  beauty  or  be  possessed  by 
it.  If  she  possesses  it,  it  is  a  part  of  herself  —  the  expres- 
sion of  her  soul,  and  it  does  us  good  to  look  at  her.  But 
if  it  takes  possession  of  her,  then  it  makes  her  artificial, 
affected,  false,  and  at  last  ceases  to  be  beauty,  because  the 
soul  has  gone  out  of  it. 

Thus  we  may  apply  this  principle  to  all  of  our  life  and 
actions.  When  fear  possesses  us,  it  makes  us  cowards  ; 
when  we  possess  it,  we  are  only  prudently  cautious.  When 
we  are  possessed  by  the  love  of  approbation,  the  desire  to 
please,  we  become  artificial  and  false — when  we  possess  this 
desire,  it  makes  us  kindly  and  pleasant. 

We  are  not  intended  to  be  the  slaves  of  anything.  All 
outward  things  are  to  serve  us — we  are  not  to  serve  them. 


POSSESSED    WITH    A    DEVIL.  289 

Shakespeare  complains  of  having  to  devote  himself  to  a  work 
which  was  to'o  absorbing. 

"  Almost  thence  my  nature  is  subdued 
To  what  it  works  in,  like  the  dyer's  hand. " 

We  may  even  become  the  slaves  of  conscience,  and  be 
possessed  by  it  injuriously.  True  morality  is  always  free 
and  manly — not  the  slave  of  scruples.  A  conscience  may 
become  morbidly  scrupulous ;  it  may  be  irritable  and  anx- 
ious, and,  instead  of  making  one  better,  it  will  make  him 
worse.  We  may  be  sure  that  God  never  calls  on  us  to  do 
any  duty,  without  giving  us  knowledge  enough  to  know 
what  it  is,  and  power  enough  to  perform  it.  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  negative  conscientiousness  in  the  world  — 
which  is  so  afraid  of  doing  wrong  that  it  never  does  right. 
But  what  we  need  is  the  spirit  of  right  doing  going  into 
everything  —  then  the  letter  of  right-doing  will  follow.  If 
we  have  in  us  the  spirit  of  truth,  of  honesty,  of  kindness, 
of  good-will — the  spirit  of  temperance,  patience,  self- 
control —  we  need  not  torment  ourselves  with  scruples 
about  difficult  cases  of  conscience.  God  will  lead  us  right 
when  the  time  comes,  if  we  are  trusting  in  him. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  religion  —  the  religion  we  pos- 
sess, and  the  religion  which  possesses  us.  One  is  true 
religion  —  the  other  is  superstition.  Many  of  the  religions 
of  the  world  are  of  the  last  sort.  Men  are  possessed  by 
them.  Christianity  is  different  in  this,  that  it  leaves  us  in 
possession  of  reason  and  freedom. 

The  low  form  of  religion  take  possession  of  a  man, 
sweeps  him  away,  throws  him  into  a  trance  or  ecstasy,  and 
he  says  he  knows  not  what.  So  it  was  with  the  priests  of 
the  old  oracles,  so  with  the  Dervishes  of  Mohammed,  so 
with  the  Fakirs  of  India. 

The  same  thing  happens  sometimes  in  Christianity.  It 
J9 


29O  POSSESSED   WITH   A    DEVIL. 

happened  at  first.  The  gift  of  tongues  was  something  of 
the  sort.  Paul  says,  Prophecy  is  better;  that  is  useful. 
Tongues  are  useless ;  they  have  no  sense,  no  meaning.  "  I 
had  rather  speak  five  words  with  my  understanding  to  teach 
others,  then  ten  thousand  words  in  an  unknown  tongue.''  — 
God  is  not  author  of  confusion,  but  of  peace.  The  spirit  of 
prophets  is  subject  to  the  prophets.  Christianity  is  free. 
"  Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty,"  "Ye  shall 
know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  Chris- 
tianity cares  not  to  silence  the  understanding  by  mysteries, 
but  to  reveal  truth,  unveil  it.  Whenever  religion  makes  a 
man  a  coward  or  a  slave,  it  is  not  true  religion.  When  it 
makes  him  say  what  he  does  not  really  believe,  for  fear  of 
offending  God,  as  though  God  loved  anything  better  than 
honesty,  then  it  is  false  religion.  Job  knew  better  than  that. 
His  friends  wanted  him  to  say  that:  he  had  sinned  when  he 
did  not  see  it.  He  refused.  He  said,  "  Shall  I  respect 
the  person  of  God  ?  Shall  I  speak  words  of  wind  concern- 
ing him  ? " 

"  There  is  more  faith  in  honest  doubt  than  in  half  our 
creeds,"  says  Tennyson,  and  he  says  truly. 

So  also  with  religious  ceremonies  and  ordinances.  Some 
possess  them  —  others  are  possessed  by  them.  The  Puri- 
tans were  possessed  by  the  Sabbath.  They  paid  a  slavish 
obedience  to  its  letter.  A  Scotch  Presbyterian  was  blaming 
some  one  for  taking  a  walk  on  the  Sabbath  day.  The  man 
reminded  him  that  Jesus  took  a  walk  with  his  disciples  on 
the  Sabbath.  "  I  know  he  did,"  replied  the  Scotchman, 
"and  I  never  thought  any  better  of  him  for  it" 

Some  persons  are  possessed  by  the  Bible.  They  read 
it  as  though  reading  it  were  a  magical  charm,  and  were  to 
do  them  good  by  its  letter.  Others  read  it  for  its  spirit  — 
its  hopeful,  brave,  loving,  tender  spirit  —  and  they  possess 
the  Bible.     It  is  their  friend,  not  their  master. 


POSSESSED    WITH    A    DEVIL.  29I 

I  have  known  persons  possessed  by  their  prayer-book  j 
to  them  it  was  as  full  of  plenary  inspiration  as  the  Bible. 
They  paid  it  a  blind,  idolatrous  reverence,  instead  of  an  in- 
telligent respect. 

I  know  sensible  people  who  have  a  feeling  about  baptism? 
as  though  it  were  a  little  safer  for  a  child  to  die  after  it  is 
baptized  than  to  die  before  it  is  baptized.  As  though  God 
would  love  it  more  because  of  this  ceremony ! 

So  people  say,  "  We  have  got  religion,  "  when  they  have 
put  themselves  into  an  excitable  state,  and  received  a  great 
impulse  of  emotion,  which  has  swept  over  their  soul  like  a 
wave.  They  say  they  have  got  religion.  Perhaps  they 
have.  But  very  often  religion  has  got  them.  They  were 
free,  broad,  kindly,  liberal,  before  ;  henceforth  they  become 
narrow  partisans,  bitter  zealots ;  they  denounce  all  those 
who  differ  from  them.  If  they  have  got  religion,  they  have 
got  a  very  poor  religion.  And  if  religion  has  got  them,  it 
is  not  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  for  the  fruits  of  that  Holy  Spirit 
are  love,  joy  and  peace,  —  not  bitterness,  wrath  and  evil 
speaking,  with  all  uncharitableness. 

The  essence  of  true  religion  is  a  holy  life  —  a  life  up- 
right, true,  generous  and  pure.  Where  this  exists  in  the 
soul  and  in  the  conduct  all  is  right.  The  man  then  is  able 
to  possess  himself  in  peace  and  hope. 

This  self-possession  is  what  we  need.  We  are  not  to  be 
the  slaves  of  the  senses,  the  slaves  of  habit,  the  slaves  of 
money,  the  slaves  of  words,  forms,  ceremonies.  God  means 
us  to  be  free,  and  so  to  make  others  free. 

If  any  one  is  conscious  of  this  partial  insanity  —  if  he 
is  possessed  by  any  demon — let  him  believe  that  it  can  be 
cast  out.  When  Jesus  was  in  the  world  he  cast  out  devils 
by  the  power  of  his  faith  in  God  and  man,  and  gave  his 
disciples  power  to  do  the  same.  This  power  still  remains 
in  the  world.  What  we  need  is  confidence,  in  order  to  cast 
out  any  demon. 


292  POSSESSED    WITH   A    DEVIL. 

When  I  was  at  the  Washingtonian  Home,  in  this  city, 
the  head  of  that  establishment  told  me  that,  no  matter  how 
much  a  man  might  be  the  slave  of  liquor,  he  could  always 
be  made  to  leave  off  drinking  by  being  told  by  other  re- 
formed drunkards  of  their  own  experience.  "  I  was  as  great 
a  drunkard  as  you  are,  and  I  have  not  tasted  liquor  for  ten 
years."  That  would  give  him  faith  in  the  possibility  of  his 
own  reform  and  enable  him  to  make  the  effort.  So  this 
demon  of  drink  is  cast  out,  for  a  while,  at  least,  by  the 
power  of  faith. 

The  demon  of  insanity  can  be  cast  out  in  the  same 
way  by  the  same  power.  I  once  went  to  see  Channing  at 
Newport,  and  he  told  me  that  a  minister  of  the  Christian 
Baptists  had  been  to  see  him  that  day,  and  had  told  how 
he  had  once  been  called  in  to  exorcise  a  madman.  The 
man  was  in  a  paroxysm  ;  but  his  friends  had  an  idea  that 
it  could  be  relieved  by  prayer.  The  minister  himself,  a 
man  of  simple  faith,  could  not  refuse  the  request,  and  went 
into  the  room  where  the  maniac  was,  took  him  by  the  hand, 
and  said,  "  Let  us  kneel  down  and  pray."  He  said  that 
he  never  prayed  so  sincerely  in  all  his  life.  When  he  began, 
the  man's  muscles  were  like  iron  ;  as  he  went  on,  they 
gradually  relaxed,  and  when  he  finished  the  maniac  was 
quiet  and  peaceful.  Channing  thought,  and  I  think,  that 
the  strong  faith  of  the  minister  acted  on  the  patient's  body, 
through  his  mind. 

We  have  heard  a  great  deal  of  the  influence  of  the  body 
on  the  mind  ;  one  of  these  days  we  shall  know  something 
of  the  influence  of  the  mind  on  the  body. 

The  result  of  what  we  have  said  is  this :  we  need  to 
possess  all  our  powers,  faculties,  and  instruments,  and  not 
to  be  possessed  by  any  of  them. 

And  in  order  to  cast  out  these  demons,  we  need  faith 
in  God,  in  his  providence,  in  his  love,  in  his  perpetual  in- 


POSSESSED    WITH    A    DEVIL.  293 

fluence  to  lift  us  up  to  commune  with  himself.  And  he 
who  has  a  real  faith  in  Jesus  must  believe  that  he  came  to 
put  us  into  possession  of  ourselves,  and  to  give  us  "  the 
glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  "  We  are  not  to  be 
possessed  by  a  heap  of  money,  or  a  habit  of  sensuality  ;  we 
are  not  to  be  enslaved  to  a  pack  of  cards  or  a  bottle  of 
whiskey;  we  are  not  to  be  the  servants  of  fashion,  opinion, 
creeds,  ceremonies.  But  if  a  man  is  really  a  disciple  of  Jesus, 
then  he  may  say,  All  things  are  ours  ;  whether  Paul,  or 
Apollos,  or  Peter,  or  the  Roman  Church,  or  Protestantism, 
they  belong  to  us.  We  do  not  belong  to  them.  We  are 
not  the  servants  of  things  present  or  of  things  to  come. 
All  are  ours,  and  we  belong  to  God,  and  are  his  children. 


XXVII. 

GET  THEE  BEHIND  ME,  SATAN  ! 
"  Get  thee  behind  me,  satan." 

JESUS  here  calls  Peter  Satan,  though  just  before  he  had 
promised  him  the  keys  of  heaven.  He  called  him 
Satan  because  he  tempted  Jesus  to  draw  back  from  his 
duties ;  because  he  begged  him  not  to  go  to  Jerusalem, 
since  that  was  going  to  his  death. 

It  has  been  a  general  opinion  in  the  church  that  there 
is  a  Prince  of  Evil,  whose  office  is  to  tempt  mankind.  Mar- 
tin Luther,  it  is  well  known,  had  a  firm  and  practical  be- 
lief in  diabolic  agency.  His  "  Table-Talk  "  is  full  of  it. 
In  one  place,  he  says  :  "lama  Doctor  of  Holy  Scripture, 
and  for  many  years  have  preached  Christ ;  yet,  to  this  day, 
I  am  not  able  to  put  Satan  off,  or  to  drive  him  away  from 
me,  as  I  would."  He  gives  minute  directions  for  resisting 
Satan.  He  thinks  Satan  dislikes  being  laughed  at,  and 
that  it  is  a  good  plan  to  ridicule  him.  So  he  says  that 
when  Satan  tempts  him  to  despair,  telling  him  what  a  great 
sinner  he  is,  he  replies  :  "  Then  pray  for  me,  Saint  Satan." 
There  is  something  quite '  gallant  in  the  way  in  which 
Luther  fought  Satan. 

I  have  sometimes  thought  that  the  notion  of  a  Satan  or 
a  Devil  came  from  the  need  of  having  something  to  fight. 
The  Devil,  perhaps,  is  the  child  of  the  Organ  of  Combative- 
(294) 


GET  THEE  BEHIND  ME,  SATAN  !        295 

ness  in  man.  We  put  the  evil  in  us  outside  of  us,  so  that- 
we  may  fight  it,  and  call  it  Devil.  St.  James  says  :  "  Every 
man  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn  away  of  his  own  lusts  and 
enticed."  But  it  enables  us  to  concentrate  our  energies 
against  evil,  to  personify  it  in  the  form  of  an  enemy  against 
whom  we  can  throw  the  inkstand  (as  Luther  did,  in  more 
senses  than  one),  whom  we  can  talk  to,  argue  with,  and 
almost  see  before  us  in  a  visible  form,  with  hoofs  and  horns. 
So,  without  undertaking  to  decide  whether  there  is  any  real 
Devil,  or  not,  I  shall  speak  in  this  discourse  as  if  there 
were  a  Devil,  and  shall  endeavor  to  show  what  some  of 
his  methods  are,  and  how  we  can  resist  them. 

And,  first,  we  must  see  what  the  chief  object  of  Satan 
is,  and  whom  he  tempts.  He  does  not  trouble  himself 
about  those  who  are  not  trying  to  serve  God.  He  leaves 
them  to  themselves.  They  do  not  need  a  Satan.  They 
are  travelling  on  together,  in  his  direction,  and  that  is 
enough.  If  one  cares  nothing  about  God  or  duty,  nothing 
about  improvement,  or  usefulness,  Satan  lets  him  go ;  he 
does  not  waste  his  force  on  him  ;  he  will  take  care  of  him- 
self. The  motto  of  Satan,  as  of  Jesus,  is  :  "  He  who  is  not 
against  me,  is  with  me."  The  principle  of  evil  and  of  good 
are  both  so  positive,  that  they  are  sure  to  repel  and  attract 
equally.  If  they  do  not  attract,  they  repel ;  if  they  do  not 
repel,  they  attract.  Wherever  either  Jesus  or  Satan  come, 
they  judge  men.  Jesus  parts  the  sheep  from  the  goats  by 
attracting  the  sheep.  Satan  parts  them  also,  but  by  at- 
tracting the  goats.  Therefore,  it  comes  almost  to  the  same 
thing  whether  we  resist  evil  or  follow  good.  If  we  love 
good,  we  need  not  think  of  evil  ;  if  we  hate  evil  and  fight 
against  it,  it  is  a  sign  that  we  have  the  love  of  good  in  us. 
Almost ;  not  quite.  For  to  follow  an  attraction  rather  than 
a  repulsion  is  always  the  best  way. 

The  object  of  Satan  is  to  tempt  those  who  are  going  to 


296       GET  THEE  BEHIND  ME,  SATAN ! 

God,  and  lead  them  astray.  For  this  end  he  tries  all  arts 
and  contrivances.  Sometimes  he  comes  as  a  friend  ;  some- 
times he  appears  as  an  angel  of  light ;  sometimes  he 
quotes  Scripture  for  his  purpose ;  but  you  can  detect  him 
under  all  his  disguise  by  his  desire  of  drawing  you  away 
from  God. 

One  thing  which  Satan  likes  well  to  do,  is  to  persuade 
us  to  lower  our  standard  of  duty.  If  he  finds  a  young  man, 
well  brought  up,  of  good  habits,  one  who  has  been  taught, 
at  home,  industry,  sobriety,  virtue,  —  taught  to  keep  clear 
of  wine,  gaming,  dissipation  of  all  sorts,  —  the  Devil  comes 
to  him,  usually  in  the  form  of  some  good  fellow,  some  kind- 
ly, pleasant  companion,  and  says  :  "  What's  the  use  of 
being  so  particular  ?  Why  not  do  as  others  do  ?  Why 
should  you  be  so  much  better  than  every  one  else  ?  Come 
along  with  us  ;  there's  no  harm  in  it.  Try  it,  just  for  once. 
I  tell  you  what,  it's  first  rate.  You'll  have  a  good  time ; 
and  if  you  do  not  like  it,  you  need  not  do  it  again."  For 
Satan  makes  great  use  of  curiosity.  He  knows  how  to  ex- 
cite the  imagination  of  a  novice,  about  things  unknown. 
This  temptation  is  very  effective  with  young  people,  both 
boys  and  girls,  who  are  naturally  curious.  For  this  reason, 
it  is  not  a  bad  thing  for  parents  and  friends  to  blunt  the 
edge  of  curiosity  by  showing,  themselves,  to  young  people 
whatever  amusements  are  not  evil.  The  theatre  is  very 
attractive  to  those  who  have  not  been  to  it.  But  if  chil- 
dren are  taken  there  occasionally  by  their  parents,  they  are 
not  likely  to  be  fascinated  by  it  afterwards.  So  of  dancing, 
card-playing,  and  the  like.  Let  children  see  all  these  things 
when  they  are  with  their  parents  and  their  imagination 
will  not  be  excited  by  them  afterwards. 

One  of  the  great  objects  of  the  Devil  is  to  discourage 
us.  Courage,  hope,  and  faith,  make  so  large  a  part  of 
goodness,  that  the  aim  of  Jesus  is  chiefly  to  encourage  us, 


GET   THEE    BEHIND    ME,    SATAN !  297 

and  that  of  the  Devil  chiefly  to  discourage  us.  If  the  Devil 
can  only  persuade  us  that  we  are  such  great  sinners  that  it 
is  of  no  use  trying  to  be  good,  he  has  gained  his  point. 
Christ  hangs  round  our  neck  a  cross,  on  which  is  written, 
u  Hope  on,  hope  ever."  The  Devil  gives  us  as  his  talis- 
man, an  easy  chair,  with  the  motto,  "  It's  of  no  use."  He 
is  always  suggesting  that  our  sins  are  so  great  we  had  bet- 
ter not  try  to  get  rid  of  them.  The  Scripture  he  relies 
upon  the  most,  and  which  may  be  called  the  Devil's  proof- 
test,  is  that  about  the  unpardonable  sin.  If  he  can  only 
persuade  any  one  that  he  has  committed  the  unpardonable 
sin,  he  is  sure  of  him,  unless  Christ  comes  to  the  rescue. 

But  Satan  has  another  trick,  of  the  opposite  kind.  If 
he  finds  he  cannot  discourage  us,  then  he  tries  to  make  us 
self-satisfied.  If  he  cannot  do  anything  by  telling  us  how 
bad  we  are,  then  he  often  gets  his  end  by  telling  us  how 
good  we  are.  If  he  cannot  make  us  infidels,  then  he  tries 
to  make  us  Pharisees.  A  good  many  of  the  long  and 
solemn  prayers,  fasts,  and  penances,  in  the  church,  are 
mere  inventions  of  Satan,  in  order  to  puff  Christians  up 
with  an  idea  of  extraordinary  sanctity.  The  distinction 
made  in  the  churches  between  the  pious  and  irreligious, 
the  saints  and  sinners,  the  penitent  and  impenitent,  con- 
verted and  unconverted,  is  a  great  trick  of  the  Devil.  It 
works  both  ways.  It  discourages  those  who  are  outside  of 
the  Church,  by  telling  them  that  all  their  efforts  to  be  good 
amount  to  nothing  as  long  as  they  are  not  converted,  and 
they  might  just  as  well  give  them  up.  It  inflates  those  in- 
side the  Church  with  the  idea  that  they  are  the  people  of 
God  already,  and  do  not  need  to  try  very  much  to  do 
better.  Thus  it  keeps  both  from  improving  ;  teaching  the 
one  that  he  cannot  do  anything  to  improve  himself,  and  the 
other,  that  he  need  not.  I  call  that  the  master-stroke  of 
Satan. 


298        GET  THEE  BEHIND  ME,  SATAN  ! 

There  is  an  Eastern  story  of  a  Sultan  who  overslept 
himself,  so  as  not  to  awaken  at  the  hour  of  prayer.  So  the 
Devil  came  and  waked  him,  and  told  him  to  get  up  and 
pray.  "Who  are  you,"  said  the  Sultan.  "O,  no  matter," 
replied  the  other.  "  My  act  is  good,  is  it  not  ?  No  matter 
who  does  the  good  action,  so  long  as  it  is  good."  "  Yes," 
replied  the  Sultan,  "but  I  think  you  are  Satan.  I  know 
your  face  ;  you  have  some  bad  motive."  "  But,"  says  the 
other,  "I  am  not  so  bad  as  I  am  painted.  You  see  I  have 
left  off  my  horns  and  tail.  I  am  a  pretty  good  fellow,  after 
all.  I  was  an  angel  once,  and  I  still  keep  some  of  my 
original  goodness."  "  That's  all  very  well,"  replied  the 
sagacious  and  prudent  caliph,  "  but  you  are  the  Tempter  ; 
that's  your  business ;  and  I  wish  to  know  why  you  want  me 
to  get  up  and  pray."  "Well,"  said  the  Devil,  with  a  flirt 
of  impatience,  "  if  you  must  know,  I  will  tell  you.  If  you 
had  slept  and  forgotten  your  prayers,  you  would  have  been 
sorry  for  it  afterwards,  and  penitent ;  but,  if  you  go  on  as 
now,  and  do  not  neglect  a  single  prayer  for  ten  years,  you 
will  be  so  satisfied  with  yourself;  that  it  will  be  worse  for 
you  than  if  you  had  missed  one  sometimes  and  repented  of 
it.  God  loves  your  fault  mixed  with  penitence,  more  than 
your  virtue  seasoned  with  pride." 

There  is,  however,  another  temptation  lying  in  wait  for 
us  on  the  side  of  penitence.  It  is  of  repenting  and  then 
sinning  again,  and  so  thinking  that  we  can  keep  cleansing 
our  souts  over  and  over  again,  as  we  send  our  clothes  every 
week  to  be  washed.  The  Magdalen,  in  the  Church  of 
Rome,  is  the  type  of  those  who  keep  sinning  and  repent- 
ing. The  Magdalen  appears  in  the  paintings  in  the  church 
as  a  beautiful  sinner,  who  is  very  sorry  indeed  for  having 
done  wrong,  but  who,  as  you  clearly  see,  is  very  sure  to 
begin  again.  None  of  the  elements  of  self-denial  are  writ- 
ten in  her  lovely  face,  but  only  soft  sentiments,  which  love 


GET  THEE  BEHIND  ME,  SATAN  !        299 

virtue,  and  are  ready  to  weep  over  sin,  but  not  ready  to  de- 
termine effectually  not  to  commit  it. 

With  good  resolutions  they  say,  the  Devil  has  construct- 
ed his  pavements  below.  He  does  not  object  at  all  to  our 
making  a  good  resolution,  provided  we  do  not  begin  at 
once  to  carry  it  out.  Procrastination  is  one  of  his  devices 
to  accomplish  this.  He  is  perfectly  willing  that  we  should 
be  saints  to-morrow,  provided  we  will  keep  on  sinning  to- 
day. He  gladly  gives  up  the  future  to  God,  provided  he 
may  have  the  present  to  himself.  He  likes  nothing  better 
than  the  notion  of  a  death-bed  repentance.  Every  time 
that  the  religious  newspapers  announce  that  some  notorious 
villain  has  died  in  the  odor  of  sanctity,  that  some  vile  mur- 
derer has  said  on  the  scaffold  that  he  expected  to  go  direct 
to  heaven  because  he  trusted  in  the  atoning  sacrifice  of 
Christ,  the  Devil  laughs  heartily  below.  The  only  way  to 
make  the  Devil  get  behind  us,  is  to  step  forward  and  begin 
to  do  right  now,  and  so  leave  him  behind  us.  It  is  no  use 
to  resolve  to  do  right  unless  you  begin ;  and  now  is  the 
only  day  of  salvation,  now  the  only  accepted  time.  "  He 
who  chooses  the  end,  chooses  the  means,"  says  the  proverb. 
If  we  are  not  ready  to  use  the  means,  we  have  not  really 
chosen  the  end.  "  Choose  ye  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve," 
is  a  good  saying,  true  now  as  ever. 

In  the  awful  agony  of  Queen  Elizabeth  as  depicted  in  the 
play  of  Schiller,  we  see  the  tragedy  of  our  own  lives.  She 
wished  an  end,  she  wished  to  save  the  life  of  the  man  she 
loved,  but  she  could  not  conquer  her  pride  sufficiently  to 
choose  the  means.  She  longed  to  pardon  him,  but  she  let 
him  die,  because  she  could  not  persuade  herself  to  forgive 
him  till  he  begged  her  forgiveness.  But,  when  he  was 
dead,  the  pride  which  had  supported  her  gave  way,  and 
there  only  remained  her  anguish  and  remorse  in  knowing 
that  for  ar  punctilio  she  had  killed  the  man  she  loved.     It 


300       GET  THEE  BEHIND  ME,  SATAN  ! 

is  one  of  the  most  pathetic  scenes  in  dramatic  story.  We 
also  say,  "  Yes,  we  will  serve  God.  Yes,  we  will  help  men. 
Yes,  we  recognize  our  responsibility  to  lead  generous  lives, 
to  do  generous  acts.  Yes,  this  time  is  not  ours,  it  is  God's. 
These  means,  they  belong  to  him."  We  know  in  our  hearts 
that  we  have  no  real  peace,  no  real  satisfaction,  in  anything 
but  in  what  is  noble,  generous,  true.  We  know  that  only 
when  we  forget  ourselves,  and  live  to  be  good,  and  do  good, 
we  have  any  real  comfort  out  of  life.  And  yet,  choosing 
the  end  thus,  we  do  not  choose  the  means.  We  do  not 
say  "  I  will  be  a  Christian  now."  We  are  afraid  of  our 
neighbors  ;  afraid  of  what  they  will  say,  if  we  begin  at  once 
to  do  anything  different  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  And 
so  we  murder  in  our  hearts  the  one  sentiment  which  alone 
we  really  care  for,  because  we  will  not  take  the  necessary 
steps  towards  making  it  wholly  our  own. 

Another  thing  which  pleases  the  Devil  well  is  compro- 
mise. When  a  good  man  goes  away  ever  so  little  from  his 
convictions  and  principles,  Satan  has  won  the  game.  We 
may  commit  ever  so  many  faults  through  weakness,  if  we 
confess  them,  and  immediately  renounce  them  ;  but  to 
agree  deliberately  to  do  the  smallest  wrong  is  the  same  as 
though  we  gave  up  everything.  So,  in  the  temptation  of 
Jesus  :  the  Devil  merely  asked  him  to  bow  down  and  wor- 
ship him  for  one  moment,  and  then  he  would  give  him  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world.  I  suppose  this  a  parable,  and 
that  what  happened  was  this  :  Jesus  saw  that  if  he  went 
the  way  he  actually  did  go  —  the  way  of  pure  truth-telling 
—  the  end  would  be  in  his  crucifixion  and  defeat.  But,  if 
he  would  only  temporize  a  little,  use  a  little  policy,  concili- 
ate the  Pharisees,  be  friends  with  Herod  and  Pilate,  he 
could  easily,  by  means  of  his  majestic  intellect  and  fascina- 
tion over  the  human  heart,  become  King  of  the  Jews,  and 
so  establish  his  religion  permanently  as  a  great  institution. 


GET  THEE  BEHIND  ME,  SATAN  !        301 

So  established,  it  would  speedily  overcome  all  the  national 
religions  of  Greece,  Rome,  Asia,  Africa.  All  would  accept 
its  ideas  and  laws,  and  so  the  Devil  would  give  Jesus 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world  in  payment  for  that  little  con- 
cession. But  he  said,  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan  !  for  it 
is  written,  '  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  him 
only  shalt  thou  serve.'."  And  from  that  day  he  walked,  by 
the  highway  of  simple  truth  and  duty,  directly  towards  his 
defeat  and  death ;  but,  through  his  defeat  and  death,  to  an 
ultimate  triumph  unpolluted  by  any  alloy  of  compromise 
with  error  and  wrong. 

Would  that  we  had  the  courage,  now  —  when  he  has  led 
the  way,  and  shown  to  us  that  it  is  the  way  of  all  real 
success,  as  well  as  of  all  true  nobleness  —  would  that  we 
now  had  the  courage  to  follow  in  that  path. 

Another  trick  of  Satan  is  to  persuade  us  that  we  can 
only  serve  Christ  by  ecclesiastical  methods ;  by  doing 
something  in  the  church.  If  he  can  only  make  the  church 
take  the  place  of  religion,  and  make  religion  equivalent  in 
men's  minds  to  church  ceremonies,  he  has  gained  a  point. 
For  many  people  would  gladly  become  followers  of  Christ 
if  they  knew  that  they  could  follow  him  immediately  by 
beginning  to  do  as  he  did ;  by  beginning  to  clothe  the  naked 
and  feed  the  hungry  j  by  beginning  to  teach  the  ignorant, 
out  of  love  to  God  and  man  ;  by  being  honest  for  his  sake, 
true  and  just  in  order  to  advance  his  cause,  faithful  in  the 
least  duties  in  order  to  help  the  coming  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  below.  How  many  would  gladly  begin  to  do  his 
work  if  they  knew  that  in  going  among  their  fellow-men  in 
their  daily  walks  here  in  Boston,  they  may  be  Christian 
missionaries ;  that  by  helping  their  neighbors  they  are 
doing  not  only  a  philanthropic  but  a  Christian  work,  which 
they  can  take  with  them  in  their  hands  when  they  come  to 
stand  before  God  in  judgment.     What  an  amount  of  good 


302  GET   THEE    BEHIND    ME,    SATAN ! 

would  be  done  if  we  only  knew  that  every  time  we  did  any- 
thing for  those  who  needed  help,  we  did  it  for  Christ.  But 
it  is  so.  Whenever  we  gather  little  children  out  of  the 
streets,  and  put  them  into  happy  homes,  we  are  saying  our 
prayers.  Whenever  we  go  to  save  any  lost  one,  we  are 
going  to  church.  Whenever  we  utter  a  manly  word  for 
justice  and  right,  we  are  professors  of  religion.  Whenever 
we  share  our  food  and  raiment  with  those  who  need,  we 
are  eating  the  Lord's  Supper.  This  is  the  way  to  say  to 
Satan,  "  Get  thee  behind  me  !  "  —  to  go  forward  with 
Christ,  doing  his  work.  This  is  the  way  that,  while  we 
live,  we  shall  live  in  the  fear  of  God  ;  and,  when  we  die, 
die  in  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  When  we  go  forward 
with  Christ,  we  leave  Satan  behind. 

We  all  have  our  Satans  —  each  one  of  us  a  different 
Satan.  Satan  comes  to  one  man  in  the  form  of  idleness, 
and  makes  him  waste  day  after  day,  year  after  year,  until 
he  has  wasted  his  whole  life  doing  nothing.  Satan  comes 
to  another-  man  as  work,  and  makes  him  destroy  himself 
in  the  opposite  way  l»y  wearing  out  prematurely  his  brain 
and  his  body.  He  comes  to  another  as  Christian  zeal,  and 
the  man  becomes  a  bigot,  full  of  fire  for  the  Lord  ;  but  the 
Lord  whom  he  serves  is  a  God  of  wrath,  a  God  who  cares 
for  trifles,  a  God  who  prefers  sacrifice  to  mercy.  He 
comes  to  another  as  chanty,  but  it  is  a  charity  which  toler- 
ates evil,  and  lets  it  alone,  which  has  no  edge  to  it,  no 
courage  j  an  indolent  charity  which  is  not  love  at  all,  but 
only  easy  good-nature.  So  he  disguises  himself  as  an 
angel  of  light,  calling  himself  Patriotism  when  he  wishes  to 
make  nations  hate  each  other  ;  calling  himself  Christianity 
when  he  wishes  to  make  men  persecute  each  other ;  calling 
himself  Honesty  when  he  wishes  to  encourage  a  man  in 
his  rude  and  overbearing  ways ;  and  so  on,  changing  him- 
self into  every  virtue  and  every  grace. 


GET  THEE  BEHIND  ME,  SATAN  !        303 

How  is  it,  then,  that  some  people  escape  all  these 
temptations,  and  keep  themselves  so  pure  and  true  and 
generous  and  good  ?  Not  by  directly  fighting  with 
Satan,  or  by  merely  saying,  "  Get  thee  behind  me  !  "  It 
is  by  loving  good  things,  true  things,  noble  things.  They 
overcome  evil  with  good.  They  put  Satan  under  their 
feet  by  rising  above  him  into  an  atmosphere  so  pure  that 
he  cannot  enter  it.  They  keep  themselves  in  the  presence 
of  God,  and  see  his  glory  and  goodness  in  all  nature,  all 
providence,  all  life.  It  is  well  sometimes  that  we  should 
try  to  understand  our  special  temptations  and  sins,  and  so 
I  have  pointed  out  some  of  them  to-day.  But  it  is  best 
not  to  dwell  upon  them  too  much  or  too  often.  The  true 
rule  is,  "  Walk  in  the  Spirit,  and  ye  shall  not  be  subject  to 
the  deeds  of  the  flesh."  "  Finally,  brethren,"  says  the 
apostle,  "  whatsoever  things  are  good,  honest,  pure,  peace- 
able, lovely,  of  good  report  —  think  of  these  things." 

Put  good  thoughts  into  your  mind ;  so  you  will  escape 
bad  ones.  Live  with  good  people ;  seek  out  good  compan- 
ions ;  read  good  books ;  choose  the  society  of  the  pure 
the  noble,  the  generous  ;  love  to  be  with  men  better  than 
yourself  in  order  to  get  good  out  of  them,  and  with  people 
worse  than  yourself  in  order  to  do  good  to  them.  The 
talisman  which  will  protect  us  more  than  anything  else  is 
faith  ;  faith  in  God's  providence,  and  ceaseless  inspiration ; 
faith  that  if  we  have  souls  open  to  him,  we  shall  be  fed  with 
the  bread  of  life,  and  eat  angel's  food.  Believe  there  is 
more  good  in  the  world  than  evil,  for  there  is  ;  believe  that 
there  is  a  soul  of  goodness  in  bad  things,  for  there  is ; 
believe  that  God  is  in  your  heart,  for  he  is — and  then  Satan 
will  be  obliged  to  get  behind  you,  and  help  instead  of  hin- 
dering you. 

Thus,  my  friends,  let  us  say  to  Satan,  "  Get  thee  be- 
hind me."     Put  him  where  you  cannot  see  him.     Look 


3O4        GET  THEE  BEHIND  "ME,  SATAN  ! 

away  from  him  to  God  and  Christ.  When  he  is  behind 
you,  then  forget  what  is  behind,  and  reach  forward  toward 
what  is  before.  It  is  necessary  to  fight  Satan  in  this  world, 
but  not  to  be  always  fighting  him,  or  thinking  about  him. 
The  name  of  God,  the  thought  of  God,  the  sense  of  the 
love  of  God :  these,  when  they  fill  the  soul,  make  us  safe 
from  the  assaults  of  all  evil. 


XXVIII. 

BIRTHRIGHT  GOODNESS  AND  GOODNESS  WHICH  WE 
PAY  FOR. 

"The  Chief  Captain  answered,  '  With  a  great  stum  obtained 
i  this  freedom.'    and  paul  said,  *  but  i  was  free  born.'  " 

THERE  are  two  kinds  of  goodness  :  that  which  comes 
of  itself,  and  that  which  comes  with  effort  and  strug- 
gle ;  goodness  born  of  nature,  or  made  by  will. 

Some  people  seem  to  be  good  by  nature.  They  are  free 
born.  Children  of  a  good  blood,  born  in  families  educated 
during  many  generations  to  be  true,  just,  generous,  respect- 
ful ;  the  stamp  of  the  race  appears  in  their  habits  of  thought 
and  action.  Conscience  has  been  supreme  so  long  that  at 
last  it  has  become  part  of  the  bone  and  blood.  They  could 
not  be  very  bad  if  they  tried.  They  are  Sunday  children  ; 
angels  or  semi-angels  from  the  cradle. 

But  others  are  less  fortunate.  They  come  from  a  bad 
stock,  and  the  poor  blood  of  bad  ancestors  runs  in  their 
veins.  They  are  by  nature  peevish,  egotistical,  vain,  wil- 
ful, irritable,  sensual.  Some  people  inherit  a  tendency  to 
intemperance ;  others  a  tendency  to  falsehood ;  others,  a 
tendency  to  gluttony ;  others,  yet  again,  a  tendency  to  re- 
venge, covetousness  and  cruelty.  They  are  base  coin, 
with  alloy  in  their  nature,  the  fine  gold  dim,  an  infusion  of 
copper  mixed  with  it.  They  are  aware  of  their  proclivities  ; 
they  struggle  against  them ;  they  resist  them  with  heroic 
courage.     They  succeed,  with  immense  effort,  in  conquer- 

20  (3°s) 


306  BIRTHRIGHT    GOODNESS    AND    GOODNESS 

ing  this  demon  in  their  organization,  and  contrive  to  become 
moderately  good  people.  They  succeed  in  conquering  their 
tendency  to  steal,  to  swear,  to  drink,  to  cheat,  to  lie,  and 
make  themselves  truthful,  honest,  decent,  pure  men  and 
women.  With  a  great  sum  they  purchase  this  freedom  from 
evil.  They  are  emancipated  by  their  own  heroic  efforts, 
and  are  not  the  slaves  of  sin,  but  have  become  the  freemen 
of  the  truth. 

It  is  evident  that  those  who  have  thus  emancipated  them- 
selves by  their  own  efforts  deserve  more  credit  than  those 
who  are  born  with  the  possession  of  all  sweetnesses  and 
all  purities.  They  may  not  succeed  in  becoming  very 
noble  nor  very  good  ;  the  old  Adam  may  be  very  apparent 
in  them  ;  but  they  are  like  the  woman  in  the  gospel  who 
put  into  the  treasury  of  God  the  two  mites  which  was  all 
her  living,  and  of  whom  it  was  said  that  she  cast  in  more 
than  all  the  rest ;  for  the  others  of  their  abundance  cast 
into  the  treasury,  but  she  of  her  penury  put  in  all  that  she 
had. 

This  is  the  encouragement  for  those  who  find  a  great 
deal  to  contend  against  in  their  nature  or  their  circum- 
stances. When  the  spirit  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  weak ; 
when  the  law  in  the  member  wars  against  the  law  of  the 
mind  ;  when,  though  you  would  do  good,  evil  is  present 
with  you ;  when  some  irresistible  current  seems  to  be  set- 
ting you  down,  away  from  what  is  good  and  right ;  then  re- 
member that  you  need  not  despair ;  that  you  are  not  asked 
to  do  more  than  you  can,  but  only  what  you  can  ;  that  have- 
ing  little,  you  are  to  give  diligence  gladly  to  give  of  that 
little,  and  that  your  reward  will  be  greater  if  you  use  your 
one  talent  aright,  and  improve  it  to  the  utmost,  than  those 
will  obtain  who,  having  a  great  endowment  of  power  and 
faculty,  make  little  use  of  it. 

All  this  is  true ;  but  it  will  not  do  to  push  this  truth  too 


WHICH   WE   PAY   FOR.  307 

far.  If  one  deserves  great  credit  who  obtains  his  moral 
freedom  with  a  great  sum,  expending  time,  effort,  self-denial, 
self-control  therein,  it  is  also  a  great  blessing  to  be  free- 
born.  I  am  often  asked,  "Which  kind  of  goodness  is  the 
best  and  highest,  that  of  nature  or  that  of  effort  ?  "  If  you 
say  that  the  goodness  of  struggle  and  effort  is  the  best,  be- 
cause it  has  most  temptations  to  resist  and  to  conquer, 
then  we  must  ask  what  temptations  God  has  to  resist  ? 
He  "  is  not  tempted  with  evil "  at  all.  The  goodness  of 
God,  which  is  so.  high  that  no  other  deserves  to  be  com- 
pared with  it,  is  not  the  goodness  grown  up  in  struggle  and 
conflict ;  not  the  goodness  of  effort,  but  that  of  his  own 
nature.  It  is  the  impossibility  of  going  wrong  or  doing 
wrong.  Angelic  goodness  is  of  the  same  kind,  if  of  lower 
degree.  The  angels  are  good  because  they  cannot  help 
being  good.  Moreover,  if  we  say  that  that  goodness  is 
greatest  which  has  most  temptation  to  resist  and  most  evil 
to  conquer,  then  it  would  follow  that  as  we  grow  better  we 
grow  worse.  For  as  we  grow  better,  we  rise  above  tempta- 
tion, and  conquer  our  tendencies  to  evil,  and  at  last  be- 
come emancipated  from  bad  habit,  and  find  it  easy  to  do 
right.  Well,  have  we  become  better  by  this  change  ?  Cer- 
tainly we  have.  Yet  now  we  have  less  temptation  to  oppose, 
less  sin  dwelling  in  us  to  restrain  ;  our  goodness  has  grown 
easy;  our  life  is  no  longer  a  battle,  but  an  easy  growth. 
Therefore,  if  the  best  goodness  is  that  which  has  most  evil 
to  resist,  we  have  grown  less  good  by  growing  more  good. 
By  forming  a  true  and  pure  character,  we  have  lost  ground, 
By  becoming  "  pure  in  heart,"  "  merciful,"  "  meek  "  "  hum- 
ble," "generous,"  "kind,"  we  have  ceased  to  be  good  be- 
cause we  have  lost  the  virtue  which  consists  in  resisting 
temptation.  This  is  absurd.  Therefore  it  follows  that, 
while  there  is  more  moral  merit  in  resisting  evil,  there  is 
more  moral  beauty  is  not  having  any  evil  to  resist. 


3Q8        birthright  goodness  and  goodness 

The  life  and  character  of  Jesus  is  the  best  solution  of 
this  paradox.  If  we  ask,  "  Which  is  the  best  kind  of  good- 
ness, that  which  consists  in  struggle  and  effort,  or  that 
which  comes  naturally  and  easily  without  struggle  ? "  we 
find  that  Jesus  had  both  kinds  of  goodness  in  equal  and 
harmonious  union.  His  whole  life,  on  one  side,  was  a 
struggle  and  a  battle.  He  was  tempted  on  all  points,  like 
as  we  are ;  but  without  sin.  He  fought  against  wrong,  and 
lived  and  died  a  martyr  to  the  truth.  His  way  through  life 
was  no  path  of  flowers.  He  went  down  into  the  depths  of 
all  kinds  of  evil.  He  suffered,  being  tempted,  and  so 
could  save  others  who  are  tempted.  Though  a  son,  he 
learned  obedience  through  the  things  which  he  suffered. 
Yet  he  was  the  well-beloved  Spn,  dwelling  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Father,  pure  from  all  stain  of  evil.  He  combined  these 
two  forms  of  goodness  perfectly — that  of  nature  and  that 
of  effort.     This  made  him  complete  and  perfect. 

For  though  Jesus  had  this  struggle  and  battle,  it  did  not 
consist  in  any  struggle  with  evil  in  himself.  He  was  born 
wonderfully  pure  and  exceptionally  free  from  stain.  The 
story  of  the  miraculous  conception  is  the  gospel  way  of 
stating  this  fact.  He  was  born  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  No 
drop  of  black  blood  corrupted  his  heart.  We  have  all  of 
us  seen  and  known  persons  who  were  born  somewhat  so ; 
who  were  half  angels,  even  while  on  earth.  .But  Jesus  was 
all  angel  while  on  earth.  One  example  was  needed  to  show 
us  what  man  could  be  if  perfectly  free  from  selfishness  and 
falsehood.  One  illustration' of  human  nature  was  sent  us 
.to  reveal  how  God  made  it  and  meant  it ;  one  man  to 
whom  we  can  all  look  and  say,  "  Here  is  one  who  illus- 
trates humanity  ;  not  Jewish  humanity,  nor  German  human- 
ity, nor  Hindoo  humanity,  nor  English,  nor  American,  but 
humanity  in  its  central,  normal  type.  Only  by  having  one 
such  man  in  the  world,  can  mankind  become  one.     He  is 


WHICH   WE    PAY   FOR.  3O9 

the  principle  of  unity  in  the  race.  If  we  had  to  make 
allowances  for  him,  and  criticize  him,  and  say,  "  This  part  of 
him  was  the  Jew,  and  that  part  belonged  to  his  age,  and  this 
to  his  own  limited  idiosyncrasy,"  it  is  evident  that  he  is 
not  the  son  of  man ;  not  the  man  who  was  to  come,  but  that 
we  must  still  look  for  another. 

A  great  prophecy  has  lain  hidden  in  human  hearts  from 
the  beginning,  of  such  a  being  as  this.  Seeing  everywhere 
among  men  weakness,  ignorance,  sin,  the  human  heart  has 
cried  out  for  some  one  to  come  who,  while  being  a  man 
like  ourselves,  should  be  an  example  of  uncorrupt  humanity. 
God,  who  made  us  with  this  longing  and  this  prophetic 
hope,  sent  to  us  in  Jesus  Christ  its  answer  and  fulfilment. 
He  showed  us  this  one  pure  soul,  in  whose  life  the  most 
searching  criticism  has  never  yet  found  a  stain,  and  yet  he 
was  one  who  had  to  struggle,  as  we  struggle,  suffer  as  we 
suffer,  resist  temptation  as  we  resist  it,  and  whose  whole 
life  was  not  only  growth,  but  also  battle  ;  in  whom,  there- 
fore, we  find  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  by  finding  the  ful- 
ness of  manhood,  since  man  was  made  in  the  image  of 
God. 

It  shows  how  fully  we  have  been  indoctrinated  in  the 
belief  of  human  depravity  that  we  find  it  so  hard  to  believe 
in  the  perfect  goodness  of  Jesus  Christ.  Approximations 
and  approaches  to  that  goodness  we  have  all  seen  and 
known.  We  have  seen  lives  of  devoted  generosity,  fidelity, 
loyalty,  purity,  courage,  conscience  \  but  we  cannot  quite 
make  up  our  minds  to  think  that  even  one  man  should 
ever  be  perfectly  good.  Modern  criticism,  filled  with  this 
faith  in  human  imperfection  ;  with  this  confident  persuasion 
that  man  is  so  radically  bad  that  nothing  perfectly  good 
can  come  out  of  him  j  has  tried  to  find  faults  in  the  life  of 
Jesus.  But  the  charges  are  infinitesimally  little,  they 
merely  show  this  persistent  skepticism  in  the  possibility  of 


310         BIRTHRIGHT   GOODNESS   AND    GOODNESS 

any  perfect  goodness.  But  why  should  we  doubt  it — we 
who  do  not  believe  in  total  depravky  ?  Those  who  think 
man  naturally  and  wholly  depraved  are  obliged  to  assume  a 
miracle  to  explain  the  purity  of  Jesus  ;  and  behind  that  they 
place  another  miracle,  the  miraculous  conception  of  Mary 
his  mother,  in  order  to  make  his  mother  also  pure.  And  I  do 
not  see  why  the  next  Pope  should  not  proclaim,  as  another 
dogma,  the  immaculate  conception  of  his  grandmother,  and 
so  on.  If  human  nature  cannot  produce  goodness,  with- 
out a  miracle,  then  we  ought  to  have  a  series  of  miracles 
to  keep  the  sources  of  the  life  of  Jesus  pure  all  the  way 
back  to  Adam.  But  to  my  mind  it  seems  something  nat- 
ural, and  to  be  expected,  since  mankind  'has  a  tendency 
upward,  not  downward  ;  since  progress  is  the  law,  and  de- 
velopment the  habit  of  the  race  ;  that  we  should  find  at 
least  one  man  in  history  coming  into  the  world  perfect  under 
happy  circumstances  and  benignant  conditions.  In  him 
such  a  fortunate  organization  may  be  combined  with  such 
favorable  influences  that  he  shall  become  the  Son  of  Man 
—  the  pure,  unstained,  unperverted  type  of  human  nature. 
In  him,  the  two  tendencies  of  struggle  and  growth  are  har- 
monized. He  fought  a  battle,  but  not  with  himself.  He 
resisted  temptation,  but  not  temptation  born  of  an  evil  na- 
ture. The  temptations  he  resisted  were  toward  an  exces- 
sive devotion,  an  extravagant  virtue :  the  struggle  was  to 
maintain  the  perfect  equipoises  of  life,  which  make  in  him 
reason  and  faith  one,  which  balance  piety  and  morality, 
love  to  God  and  love  to  man ;  reverence  for  the  past  and 
hope  for  the  future  ;  true  reform  and  true  conservatism ; 
patriotic  desires  for  his  nation,  and  the  larger  love  of  his 
race.  He  solved  thus  the  problem  of  our  text ;  showed 
what  it  was  to  be  well-born,  and  also  to  obtain  freedom 
with  a  great  outlay  ;  how  the  sweetest  growth  need  not  be 
unmanly,  nor  the  most  martyr  devotion  stern  ;  how  the 


•     WHICH   WE   PAY   FOR.  311 

prophet  may  be  a  saint,  and  the  saint  a  man.  ...  So  Jesus 
stands  as  the  central  figure  in  history  ;  the  reconciliation 
of  races,  creeds,  philosophies,  and  religions ;  the  Son  of  God 
in  holiness,  the  Son  of  Man  in  good  will  and  humility. 

There  are,  therefore,  those  two  kinds  of  goodness  :  the 
goodness  which  comes  from  struggle,  and  that  which  comes 
from  nature  ;  but  the  life  of  Jesus  shows  that  they  are  at 
heart  one.  This  also  appears  from  the  fact  that  each  tends 
to  produce  the  other.  A  natural  growth  into  good  pre- 
pares us  to  struggle  for  it.  Struggle  and  effort  to  do  right 
at  last  consolidate  into  right  habits  and  tendency.  Mr.  Dar- 
win says  that  a  long-necked  horse  by  straining  upward  to 
get  the  leaves  from  the.  trees  may,  after  a  few  thousand 
centuries,  have  been  developed  into  a  giraife.  About  this 
we  cannot  be  certain,  but  I  do  not  doubt  that  a  bad  man 
after  a  while  may  become  a  good  man. 

The  goodness  is  incomplete  which  does  not  unite  the 
virtue  which  struggles  and  the  sweetness  which  grows. 
There  are  in  all  our  lives  a  natural  happy  development,  and 
hours  of  crisis.  With  Jesus  the  development  came  first, 
and  prepared  him  for  the  final  crisis.  With  others  the  strug- 
gle comes  first,  and  ripens  into  a  calm  and  assured  peace. 

I  have  seen  a  family  grow  up  happily  together.  Two 
young  people  were  drawn  together  by  likeness  and  unlike- 
ness,  by  circumstances  and  choice,  by  instinct  and  reason. 
They  made  a  home.  All  therein  was  content  and  joy.  It 
was  all  sunlight  except  a  little  moonlight  and  starlight, 
which  added  their  picturesque  charm  to  the  beauty  of  the 
day.  If  a  little  gust  of  transient  trouble  came,  it  only  made 
them  come  nearer  together.  Children  appeared  in  this 
home,  one  after  another,  each  bringing  some  special  added 
joy.  Wealth  brought  ease,  and  the  power  of  helping  others 
by  dispensing  abroad.  All  the  poor  in  the  town  came  to 
know  the  hospitable   door,  from   which    they  were  never 


312  BIRTHRIGHT   GOODNESS   AND   GOODNESS 

turned  away.  All  who  needed  advice  knew  where  to  go. 
They  knew  there  were  in  that  house  kind  and  sagacious 
friends  ready  to  counsel  them. 

So  the  home  grew  into  a  centre  of  usefulness.  The 
children  grew  up ;  their  characters  were  unfolded.  It 
seemed  like  a  beautiful  garden  of  various  fruits  and  flowers. 
It  was  complete  all  through,  with  the  kind  grandparents, 
the  strong  parents  and  relatives  coming  and  going.  Happy 
is  the  family  in  such  a  case.  All  was  prosperity  and 
peace. 

But  change  came  here,  as  at  last  it  comes  to  all.  Trial 
came,  and  trial  on  trial.  One  link  after  another  of  this 
prosperity  was  snapt.  One  vacant  place  after  another  was 
left  at  the  table,  by  the  fireside.  Disease,  accident,  sud- 
den losses,  cruel  death,  arrived.  The  cloud,  darker  and 
darker,  covered  the  whole  sky. 

Then  is  seen  how  the  warm  sunlight  and  easy  growth 
has  been  a  preparation  for  the  hour  of  trial.  They  rise  to 
meet  the  storm,  and  find  it  an  air  from  heaven,  not  a 
blast  from  hell.  Then  we  see  how  brave,  how  patient,  how 
tender,  how  cheerful,  men  can  be  when  all  their  joy  seems 
blighted,  and  all  their  hopes  blackened  in  solid  darkness, 
a  darkness  like  that  of  Egypt,  which  may  be  felt.  Then 
growth  becomes  patient  effort ;  natural  goodness  prepares 
the  way  for  struggle.  Then  it  appears  that  strength 
can  come  out  of  sweetness.  These  children  of  love  and 
joy  were  found  equal  to  trial  and  storm.  Love  prepares 
for  effort,  just  as  a  peaceful  nation  accumulates  the  wealth 
and  strength  which  can  encounter  war.  Thus  we  see  how 
goodness  in  the  form  of  joy  and  beauty,  natural  and  spon- 
taneous goodness,  will,  if  it  be  genuine,  create  strength  for 
the  goodness  which  is  effort  and  will. 

So  have  I  seen  a  fair  summer  morning,  when  heavenly 
clouds  floated  in  the  sky,  spiritual  as   angels,  around  the 


WHICH   WE   PAY   FOR.  313 

approaching  sun.  A  chorus  of  a  thousand  birds  welcomes 
his  coming,  as,  rising  above  the  horizon,  he  shoots  parallel 
to  the  earth  his  dewy  and  level  ray.  On  the  lake,  the 
water-lilies  all  open  at  once  as  by  the  same  impulse.  A 
mystical  influence  touches  every  bud.  The  morning- 
glories  on  each  cottage  trellis  open  wide  their  lovely  cor- 
ollas. Little  children  run  out  barefoot  to  play  in  the  dew, 
and  kick  diamonds  from  the  grass  as  they  run.  The  man 
comes  from  his  house,  looks  around,  breathes  in  the  whole- 
some air.  The  long  morning  advances  ;  the  blue  sky  be- 
comes more  full  of  sunshine ;  men  at  work  in  the  distant 
meadows,  and  women  singing  about  their  household  tasks, 
complete  the  scene  of  peaceful  life.  But  the  sky  becomes 
shaded,  mists  gather,  ugly  rack  hides  the  celestial  face  of 
the  sun,  the  tempest  arises,  the  black  cloud  rolls  up  fringed 
with  torn  white  mists  ;  hail  and  rain,  lightning  and  thunder 
come ;  the  trees  break,  the  fruit  is  blown  down,  the  corn 
levelled,  the  garden  washed  away.  The  frightened  chil- 
dren stand  at  the  window  staring  into  the  storm.  But  the 
sturdy  farmer  is  already  thinking  how  he  shall  repair  his 
losses,  for  his  long  prosperity  has  given  him  strength  with 
which  to  meet  his  trial. 

God  usually  sends  to  children  a  few  years  of  spontane- 
ous joy  with  which  to  meet  after  sorrow.  He  sends  to  each 
of  us  some  spontaneous  goodness  of  disposition  as  a  stock 
to  draw  upon  when  we  need  the  goodness  of  effort.  As, 
in  the  seed,  a  stock  of  nourishment  is  put  near  the  germ 
for  the  young  plant,  so  are  these  derived,  inherited  virtues 
given  us,  a  small  stock  in  trade  with  which  to  begin  our 
business. 

And  so,  on  the  other  hand,  I  remember  an  old  man 
whose  soul  seemed  the  -abode  of  all  that  was  most  serene 
and  most  gentle  ;  a  man  so  generous  that  his  entire  life  was 
given  to  the  interest  of  others ;  so  cheerful  that  he  made 


314  BIRTHRIGHT   GOODNESS   AND    GOODNESS' 

sunlight  around  him  by  his  presence.  He  was  a  man  of 
the  most  equable  temper,  whose  solid  purpose  no  tempta- 
tion could  shake,  and  of  whom  the  single  word  which  char- 
acterized him  seemed  to  be  equanimity.  And  yet  this  man 
had  gone  through  hard  struggles  in  his  youth.  He  had  by 
nature  an  irritable  temper,  which  it  took  him  a  long  time 
to  subdue  ;  he  was  naturally  impatient,  fiery,  impetuous. 
But  the  discipline  of  years  at  last  ripened  his  life  into  this 
entire  serenity,  as  the  fruit  on  your  tree,  so  hard  and  sour 
at  first,  becomes  at  last  mellow  and  full  of  delicious  juice 
as  summer  passes  slowly  into  the  declining  year. 

We  are  made  to  inherit  or  attain  both  kinds  of  good- 
ness ;  we  are  intended  to  grow  up  in  all  things  into  him 
who  is  our  head,  even  Jesus.  If  he  was  perfect,  he  has 
said  to  us  that  we  may  also  become  perfect.  "  Be  ye  per- 
fect even  as  your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect."  If  Jesus  is 
thus  far  the  exception,  and  if  imperfection  is  thus  far  the 
rule,  he  came  to  reverse  the  law  and  to  make  that  which  is 
now  the  rule  to  become  the  exception.  All  the  New  Tes- 
tament is  full  of  calls  and  invitations  to  become  like 
Jesus;  to  be  grafted  in  him,  arcd  so  to  produce  much 
fruit ;  to  grow  up  as  he  grew  up,  and  to  struggle  manfully 
as  he  struggled,  and  so  to  inherit  all  his  life  and  power ; 
to  be  heirs  with  God  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ,  in  this, 
and  in  all  the  worlds  which  are  to  come.  Those  who  are 
born  gifted  with  any  kind  of  goodness  —  and  all  are  born 
with  some  kind  —  have  it  in  order  that  others  may  see  how 
good  it  is,  and  so  pursue  it.  Goodness  which  is  only  effort, 
which  has  not  yet  flowered  into  beauty,  which  is  only  an 
intention,  a  struggle,  is  not  attractive.  We  respect  it,  but 
we  do  not  love  it.  So  that  each  has  some  natural  good- 
ness which  attracts  its  opposite.  Some  men  are  born 
truthful.  Others  are  born  sympathetic.  Some  are  born 
with  natural  refinement  of  feeling,  others  with  a  natural 


WHICH   WE  PAY   FOR.  315 

strength  of  purpose.  Those  who  have  these  qualities  have 
them  in  order  that  others  may  see  their  beauty  and  be  at- 
tracted. So  Wisdom  is  justified  of  all  her  children.  Mean- 
time, the  goodness  which  struggles  and  battles,  and  goes 
down  deep,  and  soars  high,  is  the  stuff  of  which  heroism  is 
made,  by  which  the  world  is  salted  and  kept  pure.  It  is 
the  seed  which  bears  fruit  in  martyrs,  and  makes  men 
nobler  than  their  nature  —  the  demi-gods  and  the  prophets 
of  a  better  time. 


XXIX. 

THE   DIFFERENCE   BETWEEN    "COME"  AND   "GO"  IN 
RELIGION. 

"  I  SAY  TO  THIS    MAN,  GO,  AND  HE  GOETH  ;   AND  TO  ANOTHER,  COME, 
AND  HE  COMETH." 

LIFE  is  made  up  of  command  and  invitation.  Like  the 
Roman  Centurion,  it  says  to  us,  "  Go,"  and  we  are 
obliged  to  go ;  and  again  it  says,  "  Come,"  and  we  gladly 
come. 

The  difference  between  "  Go  "  and  "  Come  "  is  very 
great,  and  may  be  illustrated  by  many  examples. 

Let  us  suppose,  for  instance,  that  there  is  a  little  child 
in  school,  whose  sum  in  arithmetic  puzzles  him.  He  has 
tried  to  do  it,  and  failed.  He  comes  up  to  recite,  and  he 
cannot  do  the  sum.  Now,  the  teacher  may  say,  "  You  are 
a  stupid  little  boy,"  or,  "  You  are  a  lazy  child ;  go,  im- 
mediately, and  do  not  leave  it  until  you  have  done  the 
sum."  The  child  takes  its  slate,  and  begins  to  puzzle 
over  it  again  as  hopelessly  as  before. 

Or,  the  teacher  might  say,  "  Cannot  you  do  the  sum  ? 
Come  here,  then,  and  let  us  look  over  it  together.  Tell 
me  where  your  difficulty  is."  The  child  then  takes  cour- 
age, and  by  this  sympathy  from  its  teacher  its  mind  is  ■ 
animated  with  new  hope.  I  think  it  makes  a  great  deal 
of  difference  in  schools  whether  a  teacher  is  in  the  habit 
of  saying  "  Go,"  or  "  Come." 
(316) 


THE    DIFFERENCE    BETWEEN    "COME,"    ETC.       317 

As  with  work,  so  with  play.  Much  as  a  child  loves 
play,  he  always  wants  some  one  to  play  with.  You  say  to 
your  child,  "  Go  out,  my  dear,  and  play  out  of  doors."  He 
says,  "  Mamma,  I  have  nobody  to  play  with."  But  if  a 
companion  enters,  and  says,  "  Come,  Johnny,  and  let  us  go 
out  and  drive  hoop,"  the  child  cordially  accepts  that 
invitation. 

As  with  work  and  play,  so  with  doing  right  or  doing 
wrong.  Tell  a  man  to  go  and  do  his  duty,  go  and  resist 
temptation,  go  by  himself  and  conquer  his  evil  habits  of 
temper  and  character,  and  it  is  hard  for  him  to  do  so.  To 
stand  alone  for  truth  and  right  is  not  easy.  But  say  to 
him,  "  Come,  and  let  us  help  each  other  do  right,  help  each 
other  resist  temptation ;  let  us  make  it  a  common  work," 
and  that  which  was  hard  before  grows  easy. 

But  the  word  "  Come "  means  more  than  society  or 
companionship  j  it  means  invitation.  "  Go  "  means  com- 
mand ;  "  Come  "  means  attraction.  One  stands  for  au- 
thority ;  the  other  for  friendship.  "  Go "  drives,  but 
"  Come  ''  leads.  "  Come  "  is  the  Good  Shepherd  who 
goes  before  the  flock,  and  they  follow  him. 

Now,  life  is  made  up  of  go  and  come,  of  command  and 
invitation,  of  stern  and  difficult  duty  enforced  by  irresisti- 
ble necessity,  and  delightful  occupation  made  interesting 
by  hope  and  joy.  But  the  true  art  of  life  consists  in  trans- 
muting, as  far  as  we  can,  Go  into  Come ;  making  a  pleas- 
ure of  duty ;  making  a  joy  of  work.  We  then  cease  to 
be  repelled  by  the  fear  of  evil,  and  are  attracted  by  the 
desire  for  good.  In  this  process  we  pass  through  that 
change  by  which  love  takes  the  place  of  conscience,  by 
-which  attraction  is  substituted  for  repulsion,  and  hard 
duties  change  into  glad  satisfactions. 

The  word  "  Come  "  is  a  very  Christian  word.  It  has  in 
it  the  sense  of  the  gospel.     Outside  of   Christianity,  you 


3  l8  THE    DIFFERENCE    BETWEEN    "  COME  " 

mostly  hear  "Go."  The  world  says  to  us,  harshly,  "Go." 
The  law  says  to  us,  sternly,  "  Go  !  "  Morality  says,  "  Go 
and  do  !  "  Dogmatism  says,  "  Go  and  believe  !  "  Culture 
says,  "  Go  and  become  !  "  Education  says,  "  Go  and 
learn  !  "  Ceremonial  religion  says,  "  Go  and  perform  ; 
go  to  church ;  go  on  pilgrimages ;  go  into  a  monastery ; 
go  through  these  ceremonies."  But  Christianity  says, 
"  Come  !  with  kind  voice,  Come,  and  obey !  Come  to 
God,  and  be  with  him  !  Come  to  Christ,  and  walk  with 
him !  Come  to  us,  and  be  with  us  in  a  common  work  ! 
Come,  and  receive  with  us  a  common  life !  Come,  and 
let  us  talk  together ;  let  us  strengthen  each  other."  The 
Spirit  and  the  Bride  say  "  Come  !  "  Jesus  himself  says 
"  Come  ! "  "  Come  to  me,  all  ye  who  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden."  "  Come  and  follow  me."  Christianity  is  society 
and  invitation  all  the  way  through.  That  which  abides, 
the  essential  part  of  it,  is  Faith,  Hope  and  Love,  and  these 
all  say  "  Come  ; "  none  of  them  say  "  Go." 

We  hear  a  great  deal  in  the  church  about  "  coming  to 
Jesus  "  ;  but  what  does  this  mean  ?  In  revivals  sinners  are 
called  upon  to  come  to  Jesus  ;  but  very  often,  I  am  con- 
vinced, the  meaning  is  left  somewhat  vague  and  uncertain. 
How  does  one  come  to  Jesus  ?  I  think,  if  we  take  Christ's 
own  explanation,  coming  to  Jesus  is,  first,  to  follow  him  by 
doing  as  he  did ;  and,  secondly,  by  trusting  in  him  as  a 
sufficient  saviour  from  all  evil.  When  he  says,  "  Come  unto 
me,  all  ye  who  labor  and  are  heavy-laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest,"  he  immediately  adds,  "  Take  my  yoke  upon  you, 
and  learn  of  me,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls ; 
for  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  light." 

Now,  it  seems,  at  first,  a  strange  way  of  finding  rest,  to 
take  a  yoke  and  begin  to  labor.  And  yet  experience 
shows  that  the  truest  rest  is  in  work,  provided  the  work 
be  done  in  the  right  spirit,  and  be  of  the  right  kind. 


AND    "  GO       IN    RELIGION.  319 

Man,  it  is  said,  is  a  lazy  animal  naturally,  and  hates 
work.  So  he  does  ;  but  though  he  hates  work  before  he 
begins  to  do  it,  he  usually  loves  it  while  he  is  doing  it, 
and  enjoys  the  thought  and  recollection  of  it  after  it  is 
done.  He  loves  the  idea  of  rest ;  he  loves  the  thought  of 
idleness  beforehand  ;  he  loves  the  thought  of  repose.  But 
though  he  loves  to  be  lazy  beforehand,  he  hates  it  and 
suffers  from  it  while  he  is  idle.  No  such  miserable  people 
in  the  world  as  those  who  have  nothing  to  do.  I  do  not 
pity  the  laboring  man  who  is  hard  at  work,  ploughing, 
digging  *  the  blacksmith  hammering  the  red  hot  iron  on 
the  anvil ;  the  engineer  driving  his  locomotive ;  the  car- 
penter shingling  the  roof  of  the  house  ;  the  sailor  lying  out 
on  the  topsail  yard  taking  in  sail.  I  do  not  pity  these,  for 
I  know  they  enjoy  their  work.  All  men  enjoy  work  when 
they  can  do  it  well,  and  find  in  it  some  good  to  themselves 
or  use  to  others.  But  I  pity  the  man  whose  work  does 
not  attract  him  ;  who  hates  it  while  he  does  it,  who  wishes 
to  be  doing  something  else  ;  who  puts  no  heart  into  it ; 
who  does  it  simply  from  a  sense  of  duty,  because  he  thinks 
he  ought ;  in  short,  whose  work  says  to  him  "  go,"  instead 
of  saying  "  come." 

I  think  that  part  of  the  joy  in  work  is  instinctive ;  it  is 
the  instinctive  satisfaction  of  the  active  exercise  of  faculty. 
But  work  which  never  seems  to  come  to  anything  is  not  as 
interesting  as  that  in  which  we  can  see  useful  results.  I 
think  there  is  also  an  instinctive  pleasure  in  seeing  things 
done,  and  in  helping  to  bring  about  useful  results.  "  Go 
to  the  ant,  thou  sluggard,"  says  Solomon ;  "  consider  her 
ways  and  be  wise."  Observe  the  rage  of  labor,  the  joy  of 
work,  in  the  communities  of  bees  and  ants.  The  Lord  has 
given  to  these  little  creatures  large  hearts  for  labor  ;  "  in 
small  room  large  heart  confined,"  says  Milton.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  they  take  intense  satisfaction  in  it.     Observe 


320  THE    DIFFERENCE    BETWEEN    "COME" 

the  bird  building  its  nest ;  is  it  not  evident  that  it  takes 
much  pleasure  in  it  as  a  work  of  art  ?  Now,  work  which 
is  drudgery  is  always  tiresome,  but  work  which  is  art  is 
always  full  of  joy. 

The  domain  of  art  is  by  no  means  limited  to  painting 
pictures,  or  carving  statues.  All  work  becomes  artistic 
when  it  is  done  as  well  as  it  can  be  done.  It  is  working 
toward  an  ideal  perfection  which  makes  art.  All  work 
done  in  a  careless,  slovenly  way  ceases  to  be  art. 

But  nothing  makes  us  do  our  work  thoroughly  so  much 
as  being  led  by  a  master  whose  ideal  standard  is  higher 
than  our  own.  All  artists  need  masters.  Raffaelle  had 
Perugino  j  Vandyke  had  Rubens  ;  Dante  had  Virgil.  In 
the  art  of  living  nobly,  Jesus  is  the  best  master.  To  come 
to  Jesus  and  take  his  yoke,  means  to  adopt  his  standard. 
He  worked  from  God  for  man.  When  we  work  from  God 
for  man  we  come  to  him.  We  then  stand  by  his  side,  and 
are  his  disciples  and  followers,  though  we  may  never  have 
heard  his  name. 

I  do  not  indeed  mean  to  say  that  we  can  ever  get  wholly 
rid  of  all  disagreeable  duties.  Some  duties  will  no  doubt 
remain  always  hard  to  do  ;  some  work  which  must  be 
done  by  force  of  will,  by  courageous  and  determined  effort. 
But  I  mean  to  say  that  there  is  something  wrong  about 
our  life,  our  work,  our  homes,  our  schools,  churches,  and 
professions,  if  they  are  not  attractive.  There  is  something 
still  wanting  as  long  as  they  repel  and  displease  us. 

Coleridge  says  well,  "  That  the  appropriate  calling  of 
youth  is  not  to  distinguish  in  the  fear  of  being  deceived  or 
degraded ;  not  to  analyze  with  scrupulous  minuteness,  but 
to  accumulate  in  genial  confidence ;  its  instinct,  its  safety, 
its  benefit,  its  glory,  is  to  feel,  to  love,  to  admire,  and  so 
to  labor." 

Some  parents  are  always  saying  to  their  children,  "  you 
ought  "  and  "  you  ought  not." 


AND   "GO       IN   RELIGION.  321 

They  find  fault,  and  scold,  and  say,  "  That  is  very  wrong  j 
are  you  not  ashamed  of  yourself  to  do  so  ?  "  The  whole 
of  the  interior  life  in  some  households  is  an  anticipation  of 
the  day  of  judgment.  Yet  the  parents  are  conscientious 
about  it ;  they  think  they  ought  to  approve  and  censure, 
find  fault,  blame,  punish.  They  do  not  always  see  that 
this  perpetual  manifestation  of  the  moral  law  is  apt  to 
make  the  child's  conscience  not  merely  sensitive,  which  it 
ought  to  be,  but  irritable,  which  is  a  bad  thing.  The 
conscience  ought  to  be  sensitive,  but  ought  not  to  be 
irritable.  Silence  is  often  a  sufficient  reproof.  People 
commonly  know  well  enough  when  they  have  done  wrong ; 
it  is  not  necessary  to  be  always  telling  them  of  it ;  and 
perpetual  reproof  at  last  hardens  the  conscience.  A  child 
whose  parents  are  always  querulous,  fault-finding,  com- 
plaining, at  last  shuts  his  ears  against  their  reproaches, 
and  becomes  wilful,  hard,  impenitent,  stubborn. 

No.  In  morality  as  in  war,  the  best  word  to  say  is  not 
"  Go  and  do  it,"  but  "  Come  and  do  it."  The  great  cap- 
tain, in  the  storm  of  battle,  when  the  heady  tide  of  fight  is 
surging  against  him,  knows  well  that  the  only  thing  to  do 
is  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  command,  and  to  lead 
them  himself  against  the  enemy.  Plutarch  says  of  Julius 
Caesar  that  he  won  all  his  battles  by  saying  to  his  soldiers, 
"  Come,"  rather  than  4<  Go."  So  it  is  in  morality.  Who 
are  those  who  have  done  us  good  ?  Who  but  those  whose 
goodness  has  inspired  us  with  love  for  virtue  ?  Not  de- 
nunciation, but  example,  touches  the  heart.  That  is  why 
the  martyr's  blood  is  the  seed  of  the  church.  We  had  been 
denouncing  slavery  as  sin,  with  small  apparent  effect,  but 
when  John  Brown  went  down  into  Virginia,  and  died  on 
the  scaffold  out  of  love  for  the  slave,  there  came  a  sudden 
inspiration  to  us  all. 

The  goodness  which  is  created  by  the  love  of  beauty  and 

21 


322  THE    DIFFERENCE    BETWEEN    "  COME 

truth  is  the  only  goodness  of  any  lasting  value.  If  we 
only  do  right  because  we  are  afraid  of  doing  wrong,  we 
have  very  little  real  goodness  in  us.  Those  only  help  us 
to  be  better  whose  goodness  is  an  inspiration  and  makes  us 
love  it.  Our  best  benefactors  are  those  pure  and  sweet 
souls  whose  lives  have  made  virtue  to  seem  lovable.  The 
stern  and  harsh  virtues  are  often  adulterated  by  spiritual 
pride,  and  are  not  the  best.  The  virtues  which  say  "  come  " 
are  our  inspiration.  Blessed,  evermore  blessed,  be  the 
memory  of  those  benign  souls,  beautiful  in  their  purity, 
whose  holiness  has  touched  our  hearts  and  roused  us  to 
grateful  emulation  !  Blessed  be  the  heroic  spirits  who 
have  walked  before  us,  so  brave  and  strong  that  they  have 
made  a  proud  joy  out  of  struggle  and  battle  !  Blessed  be 
the  generous  natures,  who  have  spent  their  lives  in  giving, 
pouring  out  joyfully  all  they  had  and  were  to  help  those 
who  needed  them !  Blessed  be  the  noble  hearts,  warm 
with  friendship,  instinct  with  sympathy,  who  seek  and  save 
by  their  ever  flowing  interest  in  all  forms  of  humanity ! 

There  is  among  us  to-day  — do  not  doubt  it  —  a  goodly 
fellowship  of  such  prophets  and  a  noble  army  of  such  mar- 
tyrs. Life  is  as  rich  now  as  ever.  The  exhaustless  powers 
of  nature  are  always  creating  original  souls,  gifted  with 
new  powers  to  do  and  bear.  If  we  had  eyes  to  see  and 
ears  to  hear,  we  should  all  be  able  to  hear  the  heavenly 
hosts  singing  their  glory  to  God  and  good-will  to  men  over 
the  birth  of  divine  children.  The  creative  powers  of  the 
universe  are  not  exhausted,  but  are  advancing  to  higher 
types  of  beauty  and  glory.  For  our  God  is  the  living  God, 
who  did  not  create  the  world  in  six  days  and  then  leave  it, 
or  create  some  protoplasm  and  then  leave  it ;  but  he  is  the 
God  who  is  the  perpetual  Creator,  working  hitherto  and 
working  now,  as  at  first. 

When  a  generous  soul  departs,  death  does  not  say  Go, 


AND    "GO       IN    RELIGION.  323 

but  life  says  Come.  The  Christian  instinct  of  our  hearts 
tells  us  that  he  has  heard  the  voice  of  God  saying,  "  Come 
up  hither."  Death  no  longer  terrifies,  no  longer  repels  ; 
but  the  higher  life  beyond  attracts.  We  see  the  many 
mansions  there  waiting  for  God's  children.  The  friends 
who  have  gone  before  us  are  there  to  receive  and  welcome 
us.  New  work  is  there,  new  inspiration,  new  love,  new 
hope. 

Therefore  we  are  also  ourselves  willing  to  go  when  God 
says  come  ;  so  we  can  bid  our  friends  go  when  God  says 
to  them  come,  knowing  that  while  they  go  from  us,  to  all 
those  on  the  other  side  they  really  come. 

The  old  religions  put  God  above  the  world  as  maker 
and  ruler.  He  issued  his  commands  from  that  supreme 
throne  to  the  universe  ;  established  laws  and  gave  orders. 
He  made  the  winds  his  angels  and  lightnings  his  messen- 
gers. He  said  to  his  creatures,  "  Go  and  do  this,  go  and 
do  that,"  and  they  must  not  reply,  nor  ask  the  why  nor  the 
how 

"  He  frowns,  and  darkness  veils  the  moon, 
The  fainting  sun  grows  sick  at  noon, 
The  pillars  of  heaven's  starry  roof 
Tremble  and  start  at  his  reproof." 

This  God  who  says  Go  —  so  we  were  told  —  put  man 
here  in  a  state  of  probation,  and  laid  his  awful  law  upon 
him.  "  Do  this,  and  live  ;  disobey,  and  die  ; "  so  ran  the 
eternal  edict.  This  little  span  of  life  is  the  scene  of  trial  ; 
when  it  ends  comes  the  judgment.  Then  the  great  tribu- 
nal is  erected,  and  God  says  to  some,  "  Rise  to  glory,"  and 
to  the  rest,  "  Sink  to  perdition." 

But  when  the  gospel  comes  to  us  it  gives  us  another 
view  of  the  Almighty.  He  is  not  the  mighty  monarch 
now ;  not  the  Oriental  Despot  sitting  in  secluded  and 
awful  grandeur.     He  is  the   Heavenly  Father   the  ever- 


4>T    OF  xi 

•- .» mm  an ' 


324  THE   DIFFERENCE   BETWEEN    "  COME 

present  Friend.  He  is  the  pervading  life  beauty,  joy  of 
the  universe.  He  lives  undivided,  he  operates  unspent. 
He  fills  the  flowers  with  their  beauty  in  the  depths  of  the 
eternal  forests  ;  he  smiles  in  the. immeasurable  laughter  of 
the  far-rolling  ocean  ;  he  warms  in  the  sun  and  refreshes 
in  the  breeze  ;  he  descends  into  the  smallest  insect  to  give 
it  its  happy  day  of  life,  and  he  no  doubt  cared  for  the  soul 
of  the  trilobite  in  the  oldest  geological  epoch  as  certainly 
as  he  cares  for  your  soul  and  mine  to-day.  He  is  the 
safety  of  the  universe.  Nothing  can  fail,  nothing  can  go 
wrong,  while  he  is  above  all,  and  beneath  all,  and  around 
all,  and  within  all.  Myriads  of  angels  and  archangels,  of 
powers  more  majestic  than  our  thought  can  conceive, 
serve  and  obey  and  love  him.  Intellects  of  such  vast 
comprehension  that  our  highest  imagination  cannot  perceive 
their  grandeur  fall  prostrate  at  his  footstool.  But  he  can 
also  descend  in  sympathy  to  the  lowest  forms  of  life.  He 
says  to  the  Cherubim  with  eyes  full  of  the  flame  cf  divine 
knowledge ;  to  Seraphim,  all  aglow  with  divine  love ; 
"  Come  to  me  and  have  rest  in  my  perfect  life," — and  he 
says  to  the  infusorial  animalcule  of  tropic  seas,  "  Come  to 
me  and  be  safe." 

Our  God,  the  God  and  Father  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  the 
God  who  says  evermore,  "  Come  ! "  He  leaves  none  of 
his  children  orphaned.  He  sends  none  away.  His  ear  is 
open  to  all  their  cries.  His  mercy  endures  forever.  His 
love  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall  be,  world 
without  end. 

There  is  but  one  fatal  heresy  —  it  is  that  which  limits 
the  power,  the  wisdom,  or  the  love  of  God.  Whatever 
shuts  God  in  so  that  he  cannot  love,  help  and  save  his 
creatures  unless  they  belong  to  this  church,  or  accept  this 
creed,  or  adopt  this  method  of  salvation,  belittles  the 
Almighty,  and  really  worships  a  finite  being  instead  of  the 
infinite. 


AND    "  GO        IN    RELIGION.  325 

Let  us  lift  up  our  hearts  !  Let  us  open  our  souls  to  this 
present  inspiration  !  Let  us  believe. in  the  heavenly  Father, 
not  the  local  king,  not  the  finite  judge.  This  is  the  voice 
which  says  evermore  from  out  of  the  deep  blue  Heavens, 
"  Come  to  me  !  "  This  voice  is  answered  by  the  innumera- 
ble multitudes  of  living  souls  which  people  the  boundless 
universe,  "  We  come  to  thee  ! "  This  voice  commands  an 
unlimited  trust,  invites  to  an  entire  repose,  in  the  majestic 
order  of  which  love  is  the  beginning  and  love  the  end. 


XXX. 

THE  THREE  SALVATIONS. 
FROM   THE   PAST,  IN   THE   PRESENT,    FOR   THE    FUTURE. 

What  must  i  do  to  be  saved? 

BEFORE  discussing  a  subject,  it  is  very  important  to 
define  the  terms  of  the  question.  Falling  to  do  this, 
disputes  become  eternal,  difficulties  insoluble.  Consider, 
for  example,  the  Scriptural  words,  "  Saviour,"  "  salvation," 
"  to  be  saved."  They  have  given  rise  to  endless  theologi- 
cal discussions,  some  of  which,  I  think,  might  easily  be 
terminated,  if  the  disputants  had  commenced  by  defining 
the  terms  they  were  using,  and  had  made  a  few  simple,  but 
important  distinctions. 

Men  ask,  for  instance,  "  How  does  Christ  save  us  ?  " 
and  "  How  is  he  a  Saviour  ?  "  "  He  saves  us  by  his  death," 
some  reply.  "  No,"  say  others,  "  He  saves  us  by  his  life." 
11  He  saves  us  by  being  punished  in  our  place."  "  Not  at 
all ;  he  saves  us  by  his  teaching  and  example."  Then 
both  parties  proceed  to  quote  Scripture :  "  Does  not  the 
Bible  say  that  Christ  died  for  us,  the  'just  for  the  unjust'? 
that  by  his  '  stripes  we  are  healed  '  ?  that  '  we  are  recon- 
ciled to  God  by  the  death  of  his  Son  '  ?  that  we  are  '  made 
nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ '  ?  that  •  his  blood  was  shed 
for  many  '  ?  that  '  he  gave  his  life  a  ransom  for  sinners '? " 
all  which  prove  that  he  saves  us  ';y  his  death.  Then  the 
others  reply  —  "Do  not  the  Scriptures  say  distinctly  that 

(326) 


THE   THREE    SALVATIONS.  327 

'If,  being  enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the 
death  of  his  Son,  much  more  we  shall  be  saved  by  his 
life  '  ?  Does  not  Jesus  say  that  whoever  hears  his  sayings 
and  doeth  them  is  '  like  the  man  who  builds  his  house  on 
a  rock '  ?  Doe*  he  not  say  that  the  purpose  for  which  he 
was  born  and  came  into  the  world  was  to  '  bear  witness  to 
the  truth '  ?  Does  he  not  say  that  his  words  are  '  Spirit 
and  Life '  ?  and  does  not  this  prove  that  Christ  saves  us 
by  his  teaching  and  example  ?  " 

Then  they  dispute  once  more  as  to  what  we  must  do  in 
order  to  be  saved.  Some  say,  "  Believe,  have  faith,  that  is 
all  that  is  necessary,"  and  they  quote  ample  Scripture  to 
that  effect.  Others  say,  "Work,  obey,. work  out  your  sal- 
vation with  fear  and  trembling ;  '  give  diligence  to  make 
your  calling  and  election  sure,' "  and  they,  too,  find  as 
many  texts  as  they  want  in  proof  of  their  position.  "  Does 
not  Paul  expressly  declare  that  we  are  saved  by  faith  ?  " 
cry  one  class  of  disputers.  "  Does  not  James  distinctly 
say  that  we  are  saved  by  works  ?  "  respond  the  others. 
And  so  the  quarrel  continues  from  age  to  age. 

But  why  does  it  not  occur  to  them  that  if  Paul  and 
James  seem  to  contradict  each  other,  they  may,  perhaps, 
be  speaking  about  different  things  ?  If  Christ  seems  to 
teach  one  doctrine  at  one  time,  and  another  doctrine  at 
another  time,  it  is  quite  possible  that  he,  also,  may  be 
referring  to  quite  separate  questions.  I  think  we  should 
judge  so  about  anything  except  theology. 

Here,  for  example,  are  some  persons  talking  about  their 
friend,  Mr.  Convalescent  "  Convalescens  is  getting  well, 
I  am  told.  He  says  he  was  saved  by  the  excellent  treat- 
ment of  his  physician,  Dr  Careful."  "Not  at  all.  He 
told  me  he  was  saved  by  good  nursing."  "Well,  all  I  know 
about  it,"  says  a  third,  "is  this.  He  assured  me  that  he 
owed  his  recovery  entirely  to  himself  ;  that  if  he  had  done 


328  THE   THREE   SALVATIONS. 

what  his  friends  said,  he  would  have  died."  Here,  you 
see,  is  an  excellent  occasion  for  a  controversy,  which, 
carried  on  from  this  point  might  last  during  the  lives  of  all 
parties.  But,  in  this  case,  they  would  probably  inquire 
what  Mr.  Convalescens  was  speaking  of  on  each  occasion. 
Then  it  might  turn  out  that  when  he  said  that  he  owed  his 
recovery  to  himself,  he  meant  that  had  he  done  as  his 
friends  advised,  he  should  not  have  sent  for  Dr.  Careful ; 
and  that  he  owed  his  recovery  to  Dr.  Careful's  good  judg- 
ment in  finding  such  an  excellent  nurse,  by  whose  nursing 
he  was  saved.  So  that  there  were  three  steps  in  the  process 
of  his  recovery  —  the  first,  when  he  selected  a  wise  physi- 
cian ;  the  second,  when  the  physician  chose  an  accom- 
plished nurse,  and  the  third,  when  the  tender  and  watchful 
nursing  brought  him  back  to  assured  health.  He  was 
perfectly  right,  then,  in  saying  that  he  saved  himself,  that 
he  was  saved  by  his  doctor,  and  that  he  was  saved  by  good 
nursing.  He  was  speaking  of  three  different  periods  and 
of  three  different  acts,  all  of  which  concurred  and  resulted 
in  his  safety. 

The  Scriptures,  too,  may  be  also  speaking  of  different 
periods  in  the  process  of  human  salvation,  and  of  different 
acts,  which  may  all  be  necessary  to  the  final  result  of 
man's  moral  deliverance  from  the  power  and  evil  of  sin. 
Salvation,  essentially  and  generally,  is  this  —  the  rescue 
of  the  soul  from  spiritual  and  moral  evil. 

But  this  rescue,  though  one  process,  has  three  steps  or 
phases,  all  of  which  concur  in  the  final  result. 

The  first  salvation  —  that  in  which  salvation  begins,  is 
from  the  past,  from  the  consequences  of  past  evil  and  sin, 
whether  our  own,  or  that  of  others. 

All  evil  which  we  experience  leaves  gloom  behind  it. 
The  worst  consequence  of  doing  wrong  or  having  wrong 
done  to  us  is,  that  it  disenchants  the  universe.     The  child 


THE   THREE    SALVATIONS.  329 

begins  life  always  as  Adam  and  Eve  did,  in  Paradise. 
Youth  is  the  true  Garden  of  Eden,  where  are  all  flowers 
pleasant  to  the  eye  and  all  fruits  sweet  to  the  taste.  In 
that  paradise  all  is  hope,  expectation,  boundless  illusion. 

A  well-born,  a  well-brought  up  child,  does  not  know 
what  evil  is  for  a  long  time.  At  last  he  eats  of  the  fruit 
of  the  tree  of  knowledge.  He  does  something  wrong.  He 
is  shocked  and  sorry,  and  resolves  not  to  do  so  again. 
But  new  temptations  come,  and  he  goes  wrong  .again.  He 
is  now  not  only  sorry,  but  ashamed.  But  he  resolves 
more  strenuously,  goes  right  for  a  little  time,  and  then 
stumbles  and  falls  again.  So  he  gets  into  a  habit,  at  last, 
of  sinning  and  repenting.  He  finds,  as  the  apostle  says,  a 
law  of  sin  in  his  members. 

It  is  not  an  accident,  nor  a  mistake,  nor  mere  forgetful- 
ness,  but  something  deeper  —  a  law  of  sin.  Perhaps  it  is 
something  inherited  in  his  blood  from  ancestors  far  back, 
when  they  were  savages  running  in  the  woods.  Perhaps 
it  is  the  force  of  circumstances,  unhappy  influences  coming 
too  soon.  No  matter  what,  it  is  a  weight  on  his  conscience 
and  heart.  He  says,  "  It  is  no  use."  He  is  discouraged. 
"  Why  try  ?  I  have  tried  so  often,  I  might  as  well  give  up. 
I  have  prayed,  and  che  Lord  has  not  answered  my  prayer. 
I  will  forget  all  about  it,  and  live  from  day  to  day,  to 
enjoy  myself  the  best  way  I  can." 

This  is  the  weight  of  past  evil.  It  is  discouragement. 
How  shall  we  be  saved  from  this  discouragement  ?  That 
w'll  be  the  first  step  of  salvation. 

Tt  is  evident  that  this  is  not  what  we  can  do  for  ourselves. 
We  have  exhausted  our  own  resources,  and  have  given  up. 
We  must  be  helped  from  without  and  from  above.  Christ 
came  to  help  us  over  this  first  difficulty,  and  to  give  us 
courage.  It  is  the  grace  of  God,  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  a 
gift  of  pure  love  which  God  sends  to  us  by  his  beloved 


33°  THE    THREE    SALVATIONS. 

Son.  Jesus  says  to  us,  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  thy  sins  are 
forgiven;  rise  and  walk."  And  he  says  it  so  that  men 
really  believe  it  ;  not  in  words,  but  by  living  for  it  and 
dying  for  it. 

When  we  have  done  wrong,  and  feel  ashamed  of  our- 
selves, if  a  man  no  better  than  we  are  says  to  us,  "  Never 
mind  ;  it  is  no  great  matter  j  God  is  merciful  —  he  will 
forgive  you,"  that,  somehow,  does  not  seem  to  do  us  much 
good.  But  when  one  like  Jesus  —  one  who  never  did 
wrong  —  whose  unstained  soul  is  the  pure  mirror  to  reflect 
God's  ;  face  — when  he  makes  it  his  business  not  to  seek 
the  good  but  to  seek  the  lost,  the  depraved,  the  most  aban- 
doned —  to  tell  them  of  the  infinite  grace  of  God  which  is 
ready  to  save  them  j  when  he  gives  all  his  life  to  this  work, 
and  dies  gladly  to  convince  them  of  its  reality,  then  we 
begin  to  get  courage.  We  say,  with  Paul,  "  He  who  spared 
not  his  own  Son,  but  freely  gave  him  up  for  us  all  —  how 
shall  he  not  with  him  freely  give  us  all  things  ? " 

This,  therefore,  is  the  first  salvation — from  discourage- 
ment. It  is  the  beginning  of  religion  in  the  soul.  It  is 
a  glad  and  grateful  conviction  that  our  heavenly  Father 
really  loves  us,  unworthy  as  we  are,  and  that  he  has  deter- 
mined to  save  us  from  all  our  evil ;  that  this  plan  of 
redemption  is  as  old  as  the  plan  of  creation,  and  that 
those  who  are  furthest  off  from  God's  holiness  are  nearest 
to  his  pity.  When  the  woman  lost  her  piece  of  silver,  she 
lighted  a  candle  and  searched  the  house  diligently  till  she 
found  it.  When  the  shepherd  lost  one  little  lamb  out  of 
his  flock,  he  left  all  the  rest  in  the  wilderness,  and  went  to 
look  for  it.  We  are  the  lost  piece  of  silver,  and  Christ  is 
the  lamp  which  the  Lord  lighted,  amid  the  darkness  of  the 
world's  blackest  night,  with  which  to  look  for  us.  As  soon 
as  we  are  able  to  believe  this,  then  we  are  able  to  arise 
and  walk,  and  begin  to  be  Christians.     This  is  the  first 


THE    THREE    SALVATIONS.  33 1 

salvation,  and  it  is  all  by  faith,  not  by  works  at  all.  It  is 
a  faith  in  God's  love  towards  us,  which  the  life  and  death 
of  Jesus  has  created  in  the  world,  and  which  the  world 
could  not  have  got  at,  except  in  some  such  way. 

It  is  perfectly  true,  then,  to  say  that  we  are  saved  by 
grace  through  faith,  and  that  not  of  ourselves ;  it  is  the 
gift  of  God.  Just  as  the  sick  man  was  right  in  saying  that 
he  was  saved  by  his  good  nurse,  though  he  was  also  right 
in  saying  that  he  saved  himself  by  sending  for  the  right 
physician,  so  the  revival  preachers  are  right  in  saying, 
"  You  can  do  nothing  for  yourself,  God  does  it  for  you ; 
just  believe  in  his  pardoning  love,  just  accept  it ;  that  is 
all."     Or,  as  our  Methodist  hymn  says, 

"  Let  not  conscience  make  you  linger 
Nor  of  fitness  vainly  dream ; 
All  the  fitness  he  requireth 
Is  to  feel  your  need  of  him." 

This  is  all  true  as  regards  the  first  salvation — salvation 
from  the  gloom  and  depression,  the  remorse  and  discour- 
agement, which  come  from  the  past.  That  burden  we  can 
drop  at  once,  as  Bunyan's  pilgrim  dropped  his  burden  —  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross.  Just  as  the  little  boy  that  has  done 
wrong,  and  who  sits,  sullen  and  very  uncomfortable,  in  his 
corner,  all  at  once  pulls  his  finger  out  of  his  mouth,  and 
runs  to  his  mother  and  puts  his  arm  around  her  neck,  and 
says,  "  Mamma,  I  love  you  !  "  and  then  the  little  storm  in 
his  soul  has  blown  itself  out,  and  all  is  joy  again  ;  so  it  is 
with  us  grown  children.  When  we  once  catch  sight  of  the 
tender,  infinite  love  of  the  great  father  and  mother  of  us 
all,  and  cast  all  our  past  sins  and  sorrows  and  doubts  and 
fears  at  his  feet,  then  the  storm  blows  itself  out,  and  all  is 
well  again  -  all  peace,  all  hope,  all  trust  and  joy.  Then 
"we  love  nr    h  because  we  have  been  forgiven  much." 


332  THE   THREE    SALVATIONS. 

Then  we  say,  "  Herein  is  love ;  not  that  we  loved  GoJ,  but 
that  he  loved  us,  and  sent  his  only  son  to  die  for  our  sins."' 
It  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes. 

This  salvation  from  the  past  is  that  which  is  mostly 
taught  by  the  Orthodox.  It  is  that  which  Unitarians  do 
not  see  as  much  as  they  ought ;  it  is  that  which  Free  Re- 
ligionists do  not  see  at  all.  But  in  the  sight  of  it  there  is 
immense  power  to  waken  the  soul,  and  fill  it  with  the  love 
of  Qod.  It  is  the  beginning,  very  often,  of  the  religious 
life. 

The  second  salvation  is  salvation  from  sin  in  the  present, 
This  is  not  a  sudden  salvation,  like  the  first,  but  gradual. 
It,  is  progress.  It  is  the  cultivation  of  the  conscience, 
the  doing  good  works,  religious  improvement  in  every  di- 
rection. It  is  forgetting  the  things  behind,  and  pressing 
forward  to  those  that  are  before.  It  is  breaking  off  bad 
habits,  and  forming  good  ones.  It  is  the  discipline  of  daily 
life.  This  work  God  does  not  do  for  us;  except  by  renew- 
ing our  faith  ;  we  must  do  it  for  ourselves.  This  is  what 
Paul  means  by  telling  us  to  work  out  our  own  salvation. 
The  sense  of  the  divine  love,  which  comes  from  the  first 
salvation,  goes  with  us  through  the  second  salvation,  and 
encoufages  us  all  the  way.  Faith  helps  us  to  work  j  prayer 
helps  us  to  work ;  but  the  essential  thing  about  this  salva- 
tion from  actual  sin  into  actual  goodness  is  real  hard  work. 

This  salvation  is  that  which  Unitarians  and  Free  Relig- 
ionists have  laid  the  greatest  stress  upon,  and  which  the 
Orthodox  have  hitherto  omitted  to  say  much  about.  It  has 
been  as  though,  supposing  the  Christian  life  to  be  a  jour- 
ney, the  Orthodox  doctors  should  come  to  rouse  us  up,  and 
say,  "Come  ;  it  is  time  to  begin.  Get  up  !  Awake,  thou 
that  sleepest !  "  Then  they  think  they  have  done  their 
work.  If  we  begin  to  go,  that  is  enough.  A  person  may 
be  not  doing  anything  for  God  or  man,  but  if  he  can  only 


THE   THREE   SALVATIONS.  333 

remember  that  he  began  to  be  religious  once,  and  was  con- 
verted at  a  particular  time,  that  is  enough.  The  Unitarians 
and  Free  religionists,  on  the  contrary,  take  it  for  granted 
that  all  men  are  already  on  the  journey,  and  so  they  only 
teach  improvement  and  progress.  They  say  to  men  who 
are  sound  asleep  in  their  beds,  "  Go  forward,  friend ;  you 
are  going  right ;  take  pains,  and  make  good  progress." 
The  Orthodox  have  taught  that  if  men  have  only  begun  to 
go,  that  is  enough  ;  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  on.  The 
Unitarians  have  taught  that  men  can  go  on  the  journey 
without  beginning  it. 

But  progress  is  as  necessary  as  commencement ;  and  the 
chief  means  of  progress  is  knowledge.  It  is  astonishing 
how  foolish  sinners  are.  A  large  part  of  human  sin  seems 
to  be  pure  folly. 

The  other  day  I  read  of  the  death,  of  a  man  who  had 
made  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  out  of  a  patent  in  sewing 
machines.  Sewing  machines  which  might  be  sold  for  fif- 
teen dollars  bring  sixty  dollars  because  of  the  patents. 
Out  of  the  toil  of  sewing  women,  out  of  their  weary  days 
and  nights,  this  man  had  accumulated  a  colossal  fortune. 
Well,  having  made  it,  how  much  he  might  have  done  with 
it !  Here  are  such  institutions  as  hospitals  for  women  and 
children,  giving  comfort  and  health  to  hundreds  every  year. 
A  hundred  thousand  dollars  given  to  such  an  institution, 
would  have  caused  many  hearts  to  leap  for  joy.  Through 
all  time  sick  persons  would  have  blessed  his  name.  He 
might  have  given  it  to  such  institutions  as  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Union,  saving  young  men  from  the  perils  of  city 
life,  making  useful  citizens  out  Of  those  who  might  otherwise 
go  to  ruin.  He  might  have  built  a  village  of  cheap,  comfort- 
able homes  for  working  people  near  all  the  great  cities  of 
the  country.  He  might  have  founded  libraries,  endowed 
colleges,  set  up  industrial  institutions,  and  had  the  blessed- 


334  THE   THREE    SALVATIONS. 

ness  of  being  a  source  of  light,  life,  peace,  comfort  to  thou- 
sands. Instead  of  which  he  wasted  this  vast  income  on 
his  own  pleasures.  He  was  simply  a  fool  —  that  was  all. 
Instead  of  being  followed  to  the  grave  by  the  grateful  tears 
and  blessings  of  thousands,  he  dropped  stupidly,  unla- 
mented,  into  a  fool's  grave. 

I  have  known  boys  with  good,  happy  homes,  wise,  loving 
.  parents,  with  all  the  opportunities  for  the  best  culture  and 
improvement  offered  to  them.  They  had  nothing  to  do 
but  to  avail  themselves  of  these  privileges.  Thousands  of 
poor  boys  through  the  country  would  have  thought  them- 
selves in  heaven  to  have  had  their  chance.  They  had  only 
to  use  their  advantages,  and  they  would  have  the  satisfac- 
tion, in  a  few  years,  of  knowledge,  position,  influence. 
They  would  be  in  the  best  society,  esteemed  and  loved  by 
the  best  people,  capable  of  pursuing  successfully  any  pursuit 
in  life,  having  comfort,  ease,  useful  work,  opportunity  of 
doing  good.  Well,  what  do  these  boys  do  ?  They  throw 
it  all  away.  They  idle  away  their  time,  refuse  to  study, 
displease  and  distress  their  friends,  prefer  the  acquaintance 
of  the  coarse,  and  sensual  to  the  society  of  the  noble  and 
good  ;  go  downwards,  instead  of  upwards ;  prefer  ignor- 
ance to  knowledge,  sense  to  soul,  dirt  to  beauty,  sin  to 
goodness.  Now,  what  can  we  say  of  such  boys  as  these, 
but  only  this  :  that  they  are  stupid  beyond  description. 
They  need  a  little  glimmer  of  knowledge.  They  can  only 
be  saved  by  getting  a  little  sense  into  their  heads. 

Plenty  to  know,  plenty  to  love,  plenty  to  do.  That  is 
salvation.  That  is  heaven  ;  heaven  here,  and  heaven  here- 
after. He  who  has  the  sense  of  an  infinite  divine  love 
around  him  ;  of  a  perfect  providence  arranging  all  of  life  ; 
of  a  sweet  and  pure  spirit,  ready  to  guide,  and  sweeten  his 
soul  for  all  his  work  ;  born  heir  to  a  vast  universe  of  knowl- 
edge ;  a  new-born  child  of  God's   creation,  made  in  his 


THE   THREE   SALVATIONS.  335 

image,  and  meant  to  be  his  son  ;  he  has  heaven  around 
him,  and  heaven  within  him.  Whenever  we  see  one  such 
man  as  that  we  see  a  little  glimpse  of  heaven. 

I  have  known,  thank  God,  many  men  and  women  of  this 
sort.  But  I  was  reminded,  last  week,  of  one  of  them ;  a 
hero  and  a  saint,  yet  only  a  man  of  good  common  sense. 
He  was  no  great  genius,  but  he  gave  his  life  to  all  good 
works.  He  was  self-denying,  laborious,  simple ;  but  no 
ascetic.  His  coming  to  the  house  was  sunshine.  He  was 
a  reformer,  brave  as  a  lion  to  face  a  mob,  but  tender  as  a 
child  when  the  danger  was  over.  He  could  pluck  the  prey 
out  of  the  jaws  of  a  lion  ;  but  he  could  nurse  an  infant  in 
his  arms  like  a  mother.  He  was  a  heretic  of  the  heretics 
—  an  abolitionist;  a  total  abstinence  man;  a  non-resis- 
tant ;  a  radical  Unitarian  ;  but  the  most  Orthodox  men 
could  not  help  loving  him.  Old  Doctor  Beecher,  after 
arguing  violently  with  him,  one  day,  ended  by  saying, 
"  Well,  I  do  love  you,  brother  May,  after  all."  He  lived, 
this  good  Samuel  Joseph  May  of  ours,  in  the  second  salva- 
tion ;  lived  a  life  of  perpetual  progress ;  onward,  and  ever 
onward ;  upward  and  ever  upward  ;  sending  rays  of  sun- 
shine into  all  who  came  near  him. 

"  With  firm  set  mouth,  for  oppression 
Was  cruel  and  proud  and  strong  — 
And  with  patient  eyes,  for  God's  patience 
Alone  wins  the  fight  with  wrong." 

This  is  the  second  salvation  ;  a  divinely  human  life  here  ; 
born  of  truth  and  knowledge  ;  a  life  of  progress,  of  useful- 
ness, of  integrity,  of  generosity.  It  is  truth  putting  itself 
into  work. 

And  what,  now,  is  the  third  salvation  ?  It  is  that  which 
God  has  for  us  in  the  world  to  come. 

This   salvation  is  reserved  for  the  future.     It  is   not 


336  THE   THREE   SALVATIONS. 

knowledge,  nor  work,  but  hope.  We  do  not  see  it.  It 
doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be.  But  this  hope  is 
not  an  illusion,  nor  a  fancy,  for  it  is  based  on  solid  facts ; 
on  the  facts  of  God's  fatherly  relation  to  us,  and  of  his 
creative  agency  in  this  world. 

If  we  believe  in  the  first  salvation ;  if  we  believe  that 
the  divine  providence  reaches  down  to  the  lowest  and 
weakest  of  his  creatures  with  a  tender  care,  not  willing  that 
any  should  perish  ;  from  this  we  easily  infer  that  we  do  not 
pass  out  of  his  hands  when  we  leave  the  present  bodily 
organization.  And  since  he  has  filled  this  world  so  full  of 
beauty,  wonder,  variety,  for  our  present  life  j  he  has,  no 
doubt,  provided  other  worlds  for  us,  as  rich,  as  various,  as 
curious,  as  wonderful.  Since  he  has  made  our  hearts 
capable  of  a  love  that  never  dies  here,  he  has  provided  a 
sphere  for  that  love  hereafter.  Progress,  which  does  not 
cease  here,  will  find  its  opportunities  there.  This  life  is 
the  image  of  the  next.  Heaven  is  earth  continued  on  a 
higher  scale,  to  a  loftier  measure,  and  more  harmonious 
tones.  It  is  the  answer  to  the  aspirations  of  earth ;  the 
fulfilment  of  the  prophecies  which  human  desires  have 
uttered  below.  As  around  the  opening  and  closing  day 
there  hangs  a  greater  glory  of  sunrise  and  beauty  of  sunset 
than  around  the  noonday  hours  of  labor ;  so  the  first  sal- 
vation, when  God's  love  rises  in  the  heart,  and  the  last  sal- 
vation when  we  are  about  to  go  upward  to  him,  have  a 
warmer  glow  and  lustre  than  the  second  salvation  of  work 
and  knowledge.  But  all  three  are  necessary  to  each  other ; 
these  three  are  one.  The  joy  of  forgiven  sin ;  the  serene 
sense  of  progress  ;  the  hope  of  a  coming  immortality ;  all 
combine  in  one  life  of  daily  duty. 


THE    END. 


'  Of  THB        < 

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